Mechanical Menace
by Wolftriplex
Summary: 2 Years after the Apparoid attack, the team heir a new navigator in Peppy's place, a pink fox named Emerald who happens to be Krystal's cousin. But her first day ended up being the beginning of a conflict that began long ago that will end today.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Petrified"

It has been two years since the apparoid attack, a menacing story that will not be told again. The team was proud that they have saved the Lylat system once again; a ceremony of honor was made for them once again. After the ceremony, Peppy told everyone that he was retiring like he said he would. It was a great lost, but it had to be done. ROB took control of Peppy's job but after two years, it was too much for him.

The leader of the team, Fox Mcloud, suggested finding someone else for the job, sort of a job interview for those who wish to qualify. Fox Mcloud is a light orange fox with a mind of a true leader and a true friend. The mechanic, Slippy Toad, talked to the people to see if they are intelligent enough to guide the Great Fox. Slippy is a green toad with the best intelligence out of everyone but the worse sense of fighting. The Ace Pilot, Falco Lombardi, tests them combat wise, a decent test. Falco is a blue falcon with an ego to match.

And if someone passes those two tests, they are met by the telepath, Krystal. One look at them from her will tell how they're doing mentally to see if they are mentally prepared for what's coming to them. Krystal is a blue fox with a distinct tropical style of clothing and she has a telepathic gift within her. A couple of days have passed and no one was found. All was lost until one person started shooting threw the tests like nothing.

"So, who is she Slippy?" Krystal asked with the British accent in her voice. Her blue tail started to flicker around as she placed her hand on her chin. Slippy started to shuffle threw the interviewing papers to find that certain someone.

"Uh, well, her name is. . . really misspelled. Her handwriting is atrocious but she can answer my questions like she made them," Slippy said as he looked at the paper really closely, trying to read the handwriting of that one girl.

"Well, whoever this pink fox is, she can sure fly a ship like everyone else." Falco said as he crossed his feathered arms. He usually didn't like the fact that some people were better than him, but in this case, curiosity held no bounds.

"Well, she's coming towards me next so I can really find out who she is and what she's like," Krystal said as she paced back and forth the room. Her ears started to twitch a little with confusion.

"Well, as long as she can fly the ship, she's good for us," Fox said as he looked at his team. They started to look at him for answers but he just closed his eyes and thought to himself. Suddenly, he stopped when he heard some clicking from the door.

"Okay Krystal, your up," Fox said as he, Falco, and Slippy went to the bridge. Krystal stood in the middle of the room and awaited the arrival of the mystery woman. When the door opened, the pink fox jumped out and appeared in front of Krystal.

"Hello Krystal! Long time no see!" The pink fox yelled but Krystal didn't reply at all. She was trying to study the odd thoughts of the fox.

"Your. . . thoughts. So strange, but familiar," Krystal said with her eyes closed. The pink fox just smiled and opened Kystal's eyes with no sense of security.

"Of course it's familiar! You have to open your eyes to see your own cousin." She said as Krystal took a long, good look at the pink fox, until she sprang in joy and hugged the fox.

"Emerald It's been so long! I can't believe you actually know how to work this ship!" Krystal yelled as she let go of her, but still filled with tons of joy.

"Yep! I have been studying about this ship for many years, after what happened on Saria with you being trapped an all. I just wanted to help with all I can so I got the notice and applied!" Emerald yelled as Krystal calmed down and put on a smile. Emerald was wearing exotic clothing like Krystal used to wear, the same color as hers so it won't match her fur color. Her hair style was just the same, if you didn't know any better, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two of them.

"Well, it's good to have someone we know in the team, c'mon, you have to meet the rest of the team," Krystal said as she walked to the bridge with Emerald not to far behind.

"So, did you find out who that woman is?" Falco said as Krystal nodded cheerfully.

"Mmhm! Everyone, this is my cousin Emerald. She is an expert at this kind of stuff and will almost match Peppy," Krystal said as Emerald popped up to the side of her.

"Hello! You've already met me but it seems like I never actually met you. As you know, I'm Emerald! And I'll be taking the navigator job for the Starfox team!" Emerald said as she stood straight and saluted.

"Well, just don't be as careless as Slippy here," Falco said as Slippy got a little irritated.

"Hey! Shut that beck of yours Falco!" Slippy yelled as Emerald chuckled.

"Wow! This is a great team! I'm gonna have fun here!" Emerald yelled as Fox walked in front of her.

"It's good to have someone like you in our team. I'm the leader of the team, Fox Mcloud, this is our Ace Pilot Falco Lombardi," Fox said as he pointed towards him and he just lifted a couple of his feathers with greetings.

"Nice to have you on the team., Falco said with an ignorant tone but at the same time a tone of happiness.

"And next we have our mechanic, Slippy," Fox continued as he pointed to the green toad.

"Just make yourself at home and ignore Falco if he gets bossy," he said as Falco just turned his head and ignored him.

"Since you already know Krystal, I'd like you to meet who you're going to work with." He walked towards the computers, expecting Emerald to follow, which she did. "Emerald, meet ROB, he helps out on the maintenance of the ship and works with it 24/7." ROB turned around, nodded, and went back to work. "He usually works a lot but you can talk to him about anything and he will answer in his own opinion." Emerald smiled with a wide, joyful smile.

"This is perfect! Where do I sit?" she asked as Fox pointed to a chair at the far right of the ship. Emerald smiled and looked at Fox, put her legs together, and saluted.

"I will do my best and be a great member of the team!" Emerald yelled loud and proud all around the whole ship. Fox smiled and turned around, putting his arms behind him and grabbing them together.

"Now, will you promise to fight for the team, be there for the team when they need you, and swear to never leave them no matter what?" Fox asked as Emerald kept her saluting position.

"Yes sir!" She yelled with enthusiasm, hoping to impress Fox. He chuckled a bit, but he liked how she acted.

"Good. Krystal would you mind letting her sleep in your room?" Fox asked as he let go of his arms and walked up to her.

"Sure, no problem," Krystal said. She walked off with the energetic pink fox following her. Fox smiled as Falco went to the side of him, making Slippy shrug and head over to his room.

"You think you can handle two girlfriends?" Falco asked sarcastically, making Fox jump a little with surprise.

"Whoa! I'm not built that way!" Fox yelled. He shot out the only excuse he could think of, a pretty good excuse for someone filled with nervousness.

"Ya, you're right, you're only meant for one lady." He turned around and started to walk away.

"Hey! Don't get me started on what happened with you and Kat!" Fox yelled. Falco automatically turned around and jolted with anger.

"At least I said something! Not stay silent like you're doing!" Falco yelled. The orange fox immediately repelled back.

"I'm just waiting for the perfect time! You don't have to snap out at me like that!" Falco looked at him, calmly, then just laughed.

"Man, we still have that rivalry sense inside us." Falco chuckled a little more. Fox just put his arm around him and grinned.

"That's what friends are for." Fox said as they walked out of the command deck.

In Krystal's room, Emerald was setting up a place to sleep as Krystal separated her stuff to make room for Emeralds belongings. Emerald put a sleeping bag on the floor and a pillow on the front. Her intuition was high, she was excited and ready for a mission.

"So, are you excited to get to work?" Krystal asked. Emerald smiled and nodded.

"Yep! I'm ready to do anything right now!" Emerald yelled. Krystal chuckled a little. Then, she walked over to Emerald and put her hand on Emeralds shoulder.

"Listen Emerald, this is a very dangerous job, you're going to have to make tough decisions when we're out there. While we're out there, you're going to have to be on constant alert, help us out in any way possible. You got it?" She asked. Emerald thought for a moment. She had a serious face with her emerald green eyes shining straight into Krystals blue eyes.

"I promise, I'll do my best." Emerald said in a serious tone. Krystal closed her eyes and smiled.

"Good, now, let's get your stuff unpacked. We'll go to sleep after that." She got Emeralds bag and started unpacking it.

It was a quiet morning outside of the Lylat system as ROB woke up from his daily rebooting. The ship was dark until he started booting the ship back up. The lights in every corridor besides the bedrooms have been turned on roughly 5:30 in the morning for those who wake up early. The only ones that would be up at the time are Peppy and ROB.

Emerald just woke up by instinct, thinking that she needs to wake up until she realized she had to. She stretched her arms and scratched her head. She was wearing a pink pajama top and a pink bottom as she grabbed her official Starfox suit to get ready for work. She walked out of the room and took out the custom map she made last night.

She walked down the right hallway for a couple minutes until she took a left, than another left when she reached a bathroom. She smiled, took off her clothes, and went in the shower. She turned it on and warm water shot out of the shower as she let it fall on her gracefully. The water purified her tiredness as it splashed on her eyes. She grabbed her shampoo that was on the little podium in front of her, and poured some on her hand.

She started to lather her body soothingly as she lathered her arms and bend down to get her legs. She started to spread it all around her upper body and thighs and started to lather her breast. She finally got her neck and turned around to get the front part of her rinsed. She grabbed her tale as she turned her head to see what she was doing. She poured more shampoo and lathered her whole tail until it was almost scrunched into a ball.

Finally, she got her hair and soaped it all up, reaching her ears with ease. She turned around to rinse her tail and hair. When she was done, she paused for a sec as she heard a few noises coming from the outside of the room. She turned off the shower and listened in closely, still prowling in the shower. The sound was sort of mechanical judging by the force of each step and the gears clicking.

"ROB! You've gained weight! Ha ha ha!" The first thought from her was that ROB was inspecting the ship, but after a quick thought of common sense, she realized that ROB was too small and too well made to make that much noise. "ROB, is that you?" She felt desperate to get some cloths on, but scared to even walk out of the shower. The sound just got closer and closer until it stopped at the bathroom door. Emerald was petrified to hear it stop by the room. It was quiet, the only sound that could be heard was the silent steam that was coming off of her.

BAM! The door broke open and a robot burst into the room.

"HOLY CRAP!" In no time, the robot pointed it's arm that was replaced with a gattling gun and shot in the shower. In an instant, she jumped up and dodged the bullets. She grabbed her stuff and headed out of the bathroom. The mech turned around and charged for her with intense speed. "CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! SOMEONE WAKE UP!" She ran as fast as she could, finally rushing into a room and putting on her suit. "Great! I'm being chased by a robot while I'm naked!" She had to find a way to loose it until the team woke up cause without any weapons, she's powerless against it.

Suddenly, the robot burst the door open and pointed his arm at her again. Emerald jumped on the mech's head and made haste again. The mech did the same, charging after her with all of its might.

"Hello! Anyone listening!? HELLOOOO!" She was sure that this much racket would wake anybody up, but with no other sound but the mech's destruction, she had to fend for herself. She rushed into a random room and went as far back as possible. The mech stopped and burst the door open with his arm. The mech shot again and Emerald ducked, causing the mech to shoot everywhere. Emerald realized it was a bathroom when one of the bullets hit the shower head. "Ah come on! I just took a shower!"

Cold water spewed on Emerald but since she was already scared to death, she didn't care how cold it was. Suddenly, the mech stopped and looked around, it couldn't find her. _"Ooooh, he has thermal sensors . . ."_ But when things thought to be getting better, the water automatically changed to hot water, causing the mech to see Emerald clearly.

"YAAAH!" She splashed water on the mech and it started to go crazy. Its vision was blinded by the heat of the water, but it was only temporary until the water gets cold. "Take this bucket head!" Emerald grabbed the towel rack, swung back, and kicked the mech, causing it to crash into the wall. She ran off and headed upward to the bridge to get some help. She ignored the cuts and bullet wounds she had. Soon, the mech was hot on her trail again and Emerald was running out of energy. She has to rest, but there is no escaping the mech.

She made a sudden turn into another random room, causing the mech to turn around and bust the door of the room, but it was in for a little surprise. It ended up in the weapons vault and Emerald was holding an RPG. "HASTA LA VISTA BABY!" She shot once and the mech stepped back with a damaged arm. It tried to point its other arm but Emerald shot it as she walked forward, she shot it one more time on the lower body until she pulled out one of the gattling guns and started shooting. The mech was trying to guard itself but the constant shooting of the armor piercing bullets of the gattling gun started to mutilate the mech.

Emerald ran out of ammo and looked at the damaged mech. It didn't move for a while until it moved its arms out of the way. "C'mon! Why won't you die!?" She ran for it, knowing she had no other choice. The mech was still as fast as ever but it was loosing parts. The mech moved faster but the sudden shock of losing parts started to make it stop a little. Emerald was one step away from the mech until she reached a dead end, turned around and saw the mech, lifting its hand with intense power.

It finally stopped and fell right in front of her with a loud crash. Emerald finally collapsed and was breathing on the ground and put her arm on her chest, petrified with what just happened. The alarm finally went off in the ship and the defense turrets came out.

"Well that took long enough . . ." she said to herself.

A few minutes later, everyone was up with there gear and weapons ready as they scavenged the whole ship to see what happened. Krystal stopped at the first bathroom and saw that the door was busted open. With the thought of Emerald being in trouble, she followed the tracks of dented walls and broken doors. She stopped when she saw blood on the floor, next to the other bathroom as the shower head sprayed water everywhere. She ignored the water, thinking that ROB would just turn it off himself. She followed the blood to the weapons room and saw the RPG and the gattling gun on the floor including some multiple parts.

Her thoughts were she tried to fight whatever it was that attacked her with the weapons that were loaded. She followed the parts until she saw the mech lying on the ground, motionless. She grabbed her blaster and pointed it at the mech until she looked up and saw Emerald in the corner of the dead end, shaking with fear. She was curled up into a ball with her emerald eyes almost motionless.

"Emerald!" Krystal yelled as she wrapped her arms around Emerald with care. Once Krystal pulled back, Emerald looked back with a crooked smile.

"Wow, crazy day . . ." The mechanical menace in front of her was the first mission she had, but the shock of it was too much for her at the time. No one should have had to go threw something like that.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Clueless"

6:00 in the Great Fox. It was at full alert with all of its weapons and defense turrets waiting, waiting for a target to shoot. The horrifying mech was still on the floor where it lied, sparking a bit, but it wasn't operational. The attack from this mech made Emerald as scared as she could ever be. Her life could've ended at that instant! The whole team was in the infirmary as Emerald stayed in a ball while ROB inspected her wounds.

Fox was pacing back and forth, thinking of how the mech got in and why it wanted in? A shot of guilt ran threw everyone as they felt terrible for not helping Emerald at her time of need. Her blood still roamed the hallways along with the cries of help. The stain of guilt and the stench of blood still wondered around as everyone paced back and forth.

"It's just. . . odd. How could this robot enter the ship without any warning? With out any trace of sound?" Fox asked himself. He continued to walk back and forth continuously. His thoughts were screwed up with that one single thought.

"What I don't understand why no one woke up? Why didn't ROB detect the mech prowling inside the ship?" Krystal asked. A tear dropped down her eye. She was feeling the most guilt because she was the closest to her out of the whole team. She knew deep down inside that she heard a noise, but ignored it.

"We can ask questions when ROB is done with Emerald. What happened has happened," Falco said. He crossed his two wings. He was the only one that was actually calm because he thought that he needed to.

"Well, the only thing we can do is wait and hope that she will be okay," Slippy said. Everyone starred at the door, wondering if she would be alright. Inside, Emerald was still in a ball and ROB did everything he could without disturbing her position. ROB sensed fear inside of her since he sensed a fast heart beat and sweat coming out of her.

When ROB was done with all the physical injuries, he tried to compute a way to help her mentally, but with all his intelligence, he couldn't help her since he didn't have much of a soul. He walks out of the room and everyone looks at him with an anxious look.

"So, how is she?" Fox asked calmly, trying not to make things go into a fight. ROB turned to Fox, then to everyone else.

"Emerald is in a state of shock. She will return to her normal state soon, but this event will stay with her. Do not force her into talking, she is fragile and she can burst into panic if you take it too far," ROB finished as he made his way to the bridge. Everyone walked in slowly, trying not to frighten Emerald.

"You okay Emerald?" Fox asked. Emerald just stayed her position.

"Oh yeah, I'm hunky dorry here," she said calmly. She never made eye contact with anybody as she stayed in the ball. Krystal bent over and looked at Emerald straight in the eye. Emerald's eyes went back to normal and she started to uncurl from the ball.

"There, you alright now?" Krystal asked as Emerald looked at her. Suddenly, her eyes flooded with tears and she wailed on Krystal's shoulder.

"Oh Krystal! I was so afraid! I had to run and run! There was no escape! I tried to shoot him but he wouldn't go down! When I reached a dead end! I stopped! Where were you!?" Emerald yelled as Krystal hugged her back.

"So, we just need to ask ROB how that robot got in." Falco asked. Emerald lifted her head from Krystal's shoulder and wiped her face.

"ROB told me that the robot took the ID from an R-wing and it entered," Emerald said Jumping off the stand while wiping her face more.

"Okay, we should all head up to the bridge. We need to know where that thing came from," Fox ordered. Everyone followed him with Emerald holding on to Krystal's arm.

"Do you guys always have this much fun?" Krystal chuckled as they both followed the rest of the team. The team reached the bridge and ROB had Peppy on the screen.

"Peppy, it's good to see you," Fox said silently and calmly. Peppy was confused with why he was calm. He wasn't exactly expecting a parade of enjoyment, but as least some enthusiasm.

"You don't seem so excited to see me, it's been 6 months," Peppy said. Fox walked forward a bit.

"I am really excited, but we have a girl that's really vulnerable to panicking," Fox said. He moved and Peppy looked at the pink fox. He investigated her closely.

"Hmm, yes. ROB told me about what happened, I should have expected her to be scared since she was the target," Peppy said. Slippy walked forward to talk with him.

"So, are you able to find out where those mechs came from?" Slippy asked. Peppy shook his head.

"No, that mech was made of separate parts so it could've been made from anyon. . ." Peppy was interrupted by a black out in his side of the transmission.

"Peppy!?" Everyone but Emerald yelled. Nothing but blackness was on the screen. Suddenly, a little light was showing on the screen with Peppy's face in front.

"Sorry, it's just a power outage, I think I can take care of this," Peppy said, but Emerald was petrified to hear the same, horrifying sound she heard not to long ago. She froze for a second, but she had to warn Peppy so she used all of her might to blurt out.

"Peppy! Turn around!" Peppy turned around and jumped when he saw what he saw. He grabbed his nearby blaster and started shooting whatever he laid eyes upon. It was a mech, a little smaller than the one that was chasing Emerald, but it was the same kind. It finally got shot to death and was brought to the ground. A few minutes of silence went by, but everyone was relieved when Peppy went back on the air.

"Everyone! I just took a look outside! The city has been invaded by these machines! The power is out! They got the perfect camouflage! I have to move to a different location before they find me!" Peppy yelled. He turned off the transmission.

"Okay team! Load up your weapons! We're heading down to Corneria!" Fox yelled. Everyone headed to the weapons vault but he stayed to talk to Emerald.

"If you don't want to help, you don't. I know you've been threw a lot," Fox said. Emerald shook her head violently.

"No, I need to be a part of this team, I can't just sit here and watch." Emerald said. Fox nodded. The two of them headed after the rest of the team.

"We're departing to Corneria," ROB said. He pressed a few buttons and the Great Fox went into hyper space. They got to the planet and landed in the outskirts of Corneria.

"Okay, our first mission team, we find Peppy and bring him back. Next, we must destroy all the machines in this city. We don't know what they want but it's nothing good. Does everyone know what they're doing?" Fox asked. Everyone nodded. "Okay, let's go!"

They walked with Fox and Krystal in the front, Slippy and Emerald on the side, and Falco in the back. The team walked slowly as they progressed threw the city. They needed to get to the tallest building to find Peppy. The darkness was full of death as they walked blindly threw town. With no light, it proved difficult.

Emerald's senses were heightened as she walked slowly, trying to be brave. The only sound lurking about was the sound of the team's footstep. Emerald stopped completely when the sound of the mech's footsteps came into her ear. The four of them stopped when they heard no footsteps from her.

"Emerald? What's wrong?" Fox asked. He turned around. Her face was pale white, the same as when they found her.

"No-no-noOOOTHING!!! AHHHH!" She screamed and ran for it. They turned around and saw the same mech from the ship, still battered up, but operational. It jumped over the four of them and made chase of Emerald.

"Everyone! After him!" Fox yelled. Suddenly, smaller mechs landed around the four of them.

"It looks like we're gonna have to take a detour," Falco said. He began to shoot with everyone else. Emerald was running for her life again; the mech had somehow rebuilt his ability to give chase, but it's weapons were still offline. But it didn't matter to it so it continued to give chase. She grabbed a nearby post and swung around, but even with the swift turn, the mech was still nearby.

Suddenly, before the mech even got near her, a big, red orb shot forward and hit the mech on the side. Emerald turned around and saw the mech, on its knees. It turned to its side and charged for whatever shot it but it just got shot again. She turned to it and saw a tan like hare that had a white mustache and a grey trench coat. He was shooting the mech until it finally fell to the ground.

"Are. . . Are you. . . Peppy?" Emerald asked. She trembled with fear. Peppy nodded and put away his gun for now.

"That mech was the same one that chased you a few moments ago wasn't it?" He asked sincerely. Emerald nodded slowly. Peppy looked at it as it lied motionless, but he didn't fall for its trick. "It's trying to trick us, make it think we defeated it." He examined the broken down mech.

"Oh . . . Good! That's go . . ." Suddenly, Emerald passed out. Peppy saw her at the corner of his eye and he caught her before her head hit the ground.

"And here I thought I'd be retiring from this." He put her on his shoulder and ran for it as the mech started to climb back up. He ran in the tight ally way and kept his sprint until he heard the mech bashing threw the walls.

He got threw the ally way and took a tight turn. The odd thing was his age wasn't affecting his speed much because of him being a hare, a natural runner. The mech had a hard time chasing after Peppy. He jumped on a steel box and climbed the unleveled stack ahead of him. The mech was following obviously but thanks to the weight of it, the mech started to fall. Peppy jumped on a light post, climbed up it, and jumped on a ceiling, making the mech finally fall threw the boxes.

Peppy didn't want to think it was destroyed so he ran across the building. He started to jump buildings with ease as he continued. When he jumped the fifth building, the same mech jumped right in front of him with electricity zapping everywhere. Peppy didn't want to engage it, thinking he could harm Emerald. The mech lifted his arm and brought it down as fast as he lifted it up. Peppy shot sideways and shot backwards when the mechs other arm shot for him.

He had to get off the building before he looses balance and gets hit. The mech lifted its leg and tried to smash Peppy as he moved backward. The mech tried to hit him with its arm again but Peppy finally jumped backwards and landed on the ground. He turned around and saw Fox and the others shooting the smaller mechs.

"Peppy!" Slippy yelled. Hhe jumped a little and shot the mech that was coming for him.

"Everyone get down!" Fox yelled. He threw a grenade and it exploded the rest of the mechs.

"Is Emerald alright?" Krystal asked. Peppy nodded a little.

"She's just passed out from all of this shock, we have to get the power going before we do anything else. The mechs apparently have heat sensors, so they must be vulnerable to light," Peppy said. Everyone turned to Fox for orders.

"Okay everyone, this is a very serious mission. We have mechs all around that aren't causing deaths but _could_ if we don't do anything about it. So, since our vision is blinded, we have to stay close." Fox said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Hey, what ever happened to that piece of junk that was chasing Emerald?" Falco said. Suddenly, a huge, ground shaking crash came from behind them as they turned around and saw the mech, lifting up and creaking as the gears started to fall off.

"RUN!" Peppy yelled. They charged for the abyss. The mech followed on foot instead of its hovering abilities. They jolted every time they saw a wall right in front of them. The mech was going way too fast as it caught up to them in an instant.

"Step back!" Slippy yelled as he took out his RPG and blasted the mech. Since it was so weak, it was blasted clear across the street until it hit a building roughly 100 feet away. They started running again as the mech just jittered a little. They stopped behind a building and were very alert.

"Okay, we need to find out exactly where the power source is and turn the power on. Where do you think it can be Peppy?" Fox asked. Peppy pulled out his custom map of Corneria. Peppy used to make maps when Fox had to save Saria, but that was only in his spare time so he didn't make a map for everyplace.

"Light please." He said. Slippy gave him a flash light. He looked at the map and examined it.

"Okay, we're in the middle of Corneria and the power source is to the far East, if we can just make it there without any problems, we can do this easily," Peppy said. Falco let out a little laugh.

"When will we ever have a mission with no problems?" Falco said sarcastically. Slippy agreed.

"Ya Peppy, there's always a problem when it comes to missions," Slippy said Peppy turned off the flash light and put his map away.

"Well, we've been threw stuff like this, so lets' go!" Peppy yelled. They ran to the East for the power source. When they left, the mech didn't move whatsoever, not even the sparks came out, but its lights were on so it still had something going on.

The team had to shoot a couple mechs along the way but they got to the power source simply as they looked at it as it shined blue. The giant needle like power source was absorbing power but it wasn't letting it out so it was starting to overload.

"Oh no, it could go at anytime! Slippy!" Peppy yelled. Slippy rushed forward the minute his name was called.

"I'm on it," He said. He rushed to the controls and started to press some buttons. Suddenly, a tons of mechs started to surround them with there guns ready to fire.

"Of course, something had to try to stop us," Falco said as he readied his gun.

"We can take these ones out just like any other enemy!" Fox hollered. They all pointed there guns at the mechs. Krystal put Emerald in Peppy's care since he had to rest. Suddenly, the bigger mech smashed in front of them with a will to kill.

"Man, doesn't this thing ever give up?" Falco said. It walked towards the five of them. Suddenly, the smaller mechs started to shoot the bigger one rapidly. The big mech turned around and jumped to the crowd. He started to thwack the mechs with intense power, causing the mechs to shatter with each hit. He started to crush them with his feet, making the whole fight look like a Tyrannosaurus rex against raptors.

"Ooooookay, I'm confused here, who _exactly_ is the enemy?" Falco asked. Peppy examined the fight.

"They must be fighting for rivalry purposes, they do look different from each other." Peppy said as the big mech continued to fight. The smaller mechs finally retreated, making the bigger mech turn around and head for the three of them.

"Got it!" Slippy yelled as the power came back on instantly. Everyone shielded their eyes as the mech went berserk with all the heat.

"Now's our chance! ATAC. . ." Just before Fox could yell out the order, the mechs boosted off and vanished over the hills. Everyone was clueless with so many questions rattling inside their heads, why were they there? How they got there? And why in the heck were they fighting each other? It was all too confusing so they went for General Pepper for answers.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

"_Hallucination"_

_10:00 in Corneria, quiet, it was the sudden event that caused this silence. An army of smaller mech eradicated this city within one hour, not physically, but mentally. It caused everyone to realized that just because they got finished with one attack, doesn't mean another one won't come. In General Pepper's office, the whole Starfox team was there to figure out any answers they hold. Emerald however was standing completely still as she starred at General Pepper. He was a light brown hound dog with skin sagging down, showing how old he was. His suit showed his superiority with the many badges on it._

"_These menacing robots are indeed a major threat towards us. But without a single bit of intelligence from these things, we cannot pinpoint the exact location of there whereabouts," General Pepper finally finished. He sighed and turned to the team. "The city is in panic, they are afraid that this will turn out like what happened with the Apparoids, destruction. It is critical that we find where these mechs came from." He finished up with a silent stare towards the team. _

"_So our next mission is to find the location of these mechs?" Fox asked. General Pepper nodded with agreement. _

"_My intentions exactly. The mechs getting here so fast proves that these things don't live too far away. You should scavenge the perimeter of the Lylat system to find this location. Now, you're dismi-. . ." But before he could dismiss the team, Krystal interrupted with great importance._

"_General Pepper, there's something I must tell you that might hold a clue to these mechs," she spouted out. General Pepper nodded, telling her that she could speak. "Well, before this attack, a much larger mech came in the building and went after Emerald. We thought it was destroyed but soon it came back. When we finally got her back and went for the power, more of the smaller mechs went after us. Soon, the bigger mech came back and all the smaller ones attacked it, causing to fight back." Krystal finally finished. General Pepper thought for a minute, and then finally replied._

"_It is very good that you provided me with this kind of information but without a general thought of these mechs, it is not good enough," General Pepper said. They all continued to listen to him. Emerald spaced out and looked at the window of Corneria behind General Pepper. She saw nothing so she looked back at General Pepper, until she heard something going off in her head. She heard the devastating, familiar sound of the mech as the sound of gears cranked in her head. She looked at the window again and saw the mech on the window. The mech smacked the window and Emerald jumped and screamed for a sec._

"_AHH!" Everyone turned to her oddly as she opened her eyes and saw that there was no mech on the window. _

"_Is anything wrong Emerald?" Peppy asked as Emerald shook her head and smiled w little. _

"_I'm okay. Just feeling a bit woozy." She said with a bit of a smile. The team went back to their conversation. Emerald looked back and a little flash of the mech appeared in her head. This time, she ignored it._

"_Okay, we can deploy the arwings as soon as we take off," Slippy announced as General Pepper nodded his head._

"_Yes, you must leave immediately, you're dismissed," he commanded. The whole team left the building. They all eventually got to the ship as Peppy came with them too._

"_Oh no you old hare, you can't go with us. You might break a hip," Falco said. Peppy chuckled a little._

"_You five need as much help as you can, Emerald needs to fly so that means I need to navigate. Don't worry, I can endure anything that gets in my way," Peppy said. He walked up the ramp slowly. They didn't want to argue with his intuition, so they let him come, plus, they were happy he was back on the team._

"_Okay, let's get this ship up!" Peppy hollered. He sat down in his regular seat and Emerald was standing with the team as they waited for the ship to lift up. Finally, the ship lifted up a little off the ground, causing dirt to spew across the city as the ship rose up. It finally got high enough and went into the sky. _

"_Okay team, we're going to blast off soon so get into your ships. Emerald, your ship will come right after the others go with the other four ships since there's only four in a slot," Peppy announced. Everyone charged for the docking bay. Emerald heard a thumping sound and turned around, but there wasn't anything. The docking bay was spacious and there lied four Arwings in a cuddled up position. Everyone but Emerald got in and got out as fast as they could so she can get in. Another arwing appeared holographically as Emerald climbed in it and stayed for a sec._

"_Okay, I should stop being so down, the mech's gone and I have my first mission __with_ the team on my side. . ." she said to herself as she clenched on the controls and looked up with a smile. "Let's go!" She had much enthusiasm as she blasted off and came to the team's side. They all spun around and made the wings spread out. They raced off into space with the Great Fox not too far behind. 

"Fox, I'm picking up something on the radar," Peppy said. Everyone looked at their radars as soon as she announced it.

"Wow, that was quick," Slippy said as he boosted up a little to examine what's ahead. "I see nothing but rocks and dust." Everyone just glared at him. 

"You're being as cocky as ever Slippy. Falco, could you cover him before something happe. . ." Fox tried to finish the command but someone was shooting Slippy already. 

"Oh no! Help!" Slippy yelled. He boosted forward with intense speed.

"Slippy!" Krystal yelled. A couple of fighters flew past them, trying to shoot Slippy. 

"Hold on Slippy, I'm coming!" Falco hollered. He raced forward a little, spun around and turned to Slippy. He pressed the trigger on his controls and fired a couple of lasers. They collided with the fighters. 

"Phew, thanks Falco," Slippy said with a sigh of relief. He slowed down to stay in position.

"Don't rest now team, there's a whole fleet ahead," Peppy said. They looked at there radar to see what's ahead.

"WOW!" Emerald yelled. Everyone looked forward, just to see a gargantuan ship ahead of them.

"That's a HUGE ship! How are we gonna take it out?" Emerald cried out. Peppy interrupted immediately.

"Get out of the way team, I'm going to blast the ship! ROB! Prepare the ship for fire!" Peppy yelled. Without word, ROB started to get the ship ready. The cannon was powering up slowly until finally, a giant orange laser came out of the two cannons and collided with the ship. The ship started to fall apart, but many fighters started to pour out of the ship.

"We've got company," Falco said. They watched the dozens of ships coming for them. 

"That ship will continue to spawn more fighters, you have to make sure those fighters don't harm the Great Fox as I prepare the cannon for another fire!" Peppy yelled. He pressed a few keys.

"Okay team! Let's separate and take down those fighters!" Fox commanded. Everyone got out of position to take down the fighters. Emerald was enthusiastic about taking down the fighters so she raced off immediately. 

"Waaaahooooo! Who wants a piece of me!?" Emerald hollered. She swerved back and forth, dodging the lasers as she shot lasers of her own. The ships that were trying to shoot her were taken down easily.

"Hey, why don't you tell to not to be less cocky? She's just as careless as me," Slippy said annoyingly, but Falco just chuckled.

"Please Slippy, she's just a better fighter than you that's all," Falco said. Slippy just snorted and went back to the fighters. 

"C'mon Falco, it's not like there's times you never had a fighter on your tail," Krystal said as she made a U-turn and shot the fighter that was behind her.

"Not as much as him, he's like a homing device for these things," Falco continued as he shot down some other fighters. 

"Stay clear everyone! FIRE!" Peppy yelled. The cannon on the ship fired the beam again.

"There, that should do it! The ship is totaled!" Fox yelled. The ship began to fall apart as pieces scattered throughout space.

"Wait, there's something coming out of the ship," Falco said. Everyone regrouped to see what it was. The ship had boosters on the side, making the two pieces form back together.

"I think something that something _is_ the ship," Fox said. The two pieces started to transform rapidly. Emerald saw a faint glimpse of what she thought was the mech. She held her head and shook it, seeing nothing but the ship next.

"Whoa! It's a giant mobile suit!" Krystal yelled. The mobile suit formed together. It wasn't as big since most of the pieces had to be detached to form it.

"Detecting weak point behind armor, armor can be penetrated by lasers," ROB said. The team prepared to launch the ships.

"Okay team, attack!" Fox yelled. The team shot off to the Mobile Suite. They extended their wings and separated to battle the menace. The Mobile suite got its giant gun and pointed it at Fox.

"Evasive maneuvers everyone! That cannons loaded!" Falco warned. He swerved out of the cannons fire. The massive amount of energy burst out of the cannon with intense power. Fox turned around and launched a bomb on the mobile suit, causing most of the armor to fall off. Fox locked on and fired at the open wound. The Mobile suite covered it up and tried to fire at Fox again.

"Hey, stop messing with him you stupid bot!" Slippy yelled. He came around and shot the mobile suite's arm. It turned its arm around and started to shoot Slippy. 

"I'm coming Slippy!" Emerald yelled. She soared over the robot and shot a bomb on the robot's arm. It eradicated its whole arm, causing it to drop the gun. "Yeeeehaaaaa! That put a number on him!" She swung around and shot the opening where the hand was.

"Alright Emerald! Now let's take care of the other parts!" Fox yelled. He turned around and fired at the other parts of the body. 

"Fox! It's up to something!" Krystal yelled. She did a U-turn to join Fox. The mobile suite bent down into a ball and opened some slots on its whole back.

"Fox! Those are missile slots! You have to. . ." but before Peppy could finish, tons of missiles shot out of its back. "Everyone! Get a move on!" They all spun around to dodge the missiles, but the missiles weren't headed for them.

"Huh? Are we not good enough?" Falco asked as they looked at the missiles.

"Fox!!! The missiles are headed for us!!! You must destroy them!!!" Peppy yelled. They raced forward to destroy the missiles. In no time, they were destroyed, but another pair of missiles were already launched. They destroyed them in a hurry, but they were getting closer as more continued to appear. 

"This is insane! We can't destroy them all!" Falco yelled. They shot the missiles with the best of their abilities. One missile hit the Great Fox, causing it to shake crazily. 

"Wait, where's Emerald?" Krystal asked. She looked up and saw Emerald heading for the mobile suite. "EMERALD!" Emerald raced behind the mobile suite. She did a U-turn and headed for the open missile slots. The mech was ready to shoot and so was Emerald as she began to press the button. But a sudden shock of fear struck inside her. She imaged the missile slots as gun slots from the gattling gun of the mech. 

"Emerald! Get out of there!" Fox yelled as Emerald continued to move forward. She flinched and shot the bomb and it collided with the missiles, causing it to make a massive chain explosions. The explosions covered the mobile suit and where Emerald was, giving no one no sight of anything.

It was too much to bare, the reality of the event was just too horrifying. Krystal turned directly around and waited for the smoke to clear. Soon, it did and a lone arwing was floating in space with one wing and the engine blown off. 

"EMERALD!" Krystal hollered as she raced towards the floating ship. Luckily, there was a response from the ship.

"Heh heh. Not bad for my first mission," Emerald said with a cough.

"I'll bring her in, everyone else, come inside," Peppy said calmly. They slowly steered to the docking bay. The Great Fox shot a light green tractor beam to the arwing and brought it in to a lower docking bay. When the rest of the team came in the ship, Krystal jumped out quickly and rushed to the second cockpit. When she soon got there, the sparks from the ship caused her to back off. 

"Hey Peppy, why weren't we notified of this other docking bay?" Fox asked. He looked around the place, stepping behind Krystal. 

"I designed this place for emergency reasons, just like this one. It was always closed off and barely marked on the map since it was completely useless until it was really needed," Peppy finished. Some robotic hands came from the side and started to work on the ship. The electricity finally calmed down, making the robotic hands take the cockpit of the Arwing by force. The cockpit finally busted open like a cork on a wine bottle. The plastic on it broke and the shards scattered everywhere. 

The robotic hands gently grabbed Emerald out of the seat as they watched her. She was now unconscious, but no injuries on the outside were confirmed. The hands handed Emerald over to the team as Krystal grabbed a hold of her. 

"Wow, it's a wonder how she survived," Falco said. They looked at Emerald with her bright pink fur still sparkling from the bright explosion. They soon carried her not to the infirmary, but to psychiatrist to see what was up with her. The team just waited outside of the office as Emerald was in the office.

"Hello Emerald, my name is Dr. Skippliz, I will be your psychiatrist for today." The doctor was a grey and shriveled, showing how old he was but very experienced. 

"Hiya doctor! It's great to see ya!" Emerald yelled with a wave. She was very energetic about it all, giving a reason for the doctor to laugh and smile a little.

"Okay, just tell me what you see when you are afraid Emerald?" Doctor Skippliz got some notes out and a pencil. Emerald was laying down on the bed like couch with her arms crossed and an empty mind. 

"What do you mean what do I see? I see everything with my eyes! That's a stupid question." Emerald said with a smile, but the doctor didn't take the cheerful disposition of Emerald.

"I know you see everything, but there's something else you are afraid of, something that hold you back every time you remember it." He was trying to be serious, but Emerald continued to speak in her cheerful way.

Outside of the office, the team was discussing what they were to do with Emerald.

"If this keeps up, our missions can be a failure every time she thinks she sees her hallucination," Falco said. Fox paced around to think. He was pretty silent, but it was typical for the leader to do most of the thinking.

"She has been through a lot ever since that mech tried to attack her two times today," Krystal said. She tried to put some good on Emeralds part, but for the safety of the team, Falco rebelled. 

"Even though she is a good pilot and a great navigator, her fears could be more threatening to us," Falco said, making Fox think some more.

"Well, if we find out how Emerald can subjugate her fear, it can all be better." Slippy said. Falco didn't say anything. The wise hare finally stepped in, taking the side of Emerald.

"Team, we can't give up on Emerald. I bet you all would be scared too if your first day was filled with terror," Peppy said. Fox finally stopped to speak after all the time of thinking he had.

"Okay you guys, we're going to keep Emerald on the team. We have to help her with her fear since she can't fight it alone," Fox concluded as the team agreed, making Falco just sighed and sit in his seat. 

"Okay, now, one more test and this should do it," Dr. Skippliz finally said as he pulled out a white board and showed it to Emerald.

"Now, what do you see?" He said as Emerald looked at the colorful, weird blob on the board.

"I see a pretty blob, now what does this have to do with anything?" Emerald asked as the doctor just sighed.

"Just stare at the picture for about 10 seconds." He said as Emerald just looked at the painting. Suddenly, a flash of the same mech appeared and she jumped in the air a bit.

"What!? What did you see?" He finally said as Emerald curled up into her little ball again.

"I. . . I saw. . . I saw _it_ again." 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Eradication"

It was two days later and Emerald was done with her third appointment. Her fear seemed completely gone as she got happier and happier every time she got out. Even with the thought of the mech didn't make her phase a bit. It was basically her last appointment since she was doing so well and the team was proud too. The search for the mechs died down but it was still at large. Since Peppy was with them again, Emerald was able to have the chance to fight with the team again. 

"C'mon team, we have to leave to find out where the mechs are or where they spawn," Peppy said. They entered the bridge.

"I'm just surprised we haven't found them yet. We only went about six miles and we found tons of them," Slippy said. He scratched his head with immense confusion.

"Then shouldn't that be a good thing? We can go to planet to planet and destroy them one by one," Falco said with much confidence, but a flaw was just around the corner.

"But it was already heard enough to destroy that one spawning ship, there could be thousands of those kinds of ships in one quadrant," Krystal said. Falco shook his head with frustration.

"Why can't one problem be easy and simple!?" Falco yelled. Fox finally talked.

"Hey ROB; calculate the approximate location to where the mechs could be," he commanded. ROB typed on the computer for a little bit.

"The mechs are approximately five hundred miles away," ROB finally said. A planet flashed on the screen. 

"Hmm, that would lead to the planet Karkatar," Peppy said as he rubbed his chin. Emerald jumped forward with happiness.

"Karkatar!? That's where I go for my vacations! It's an awesome place full of theme parks! Beaches! And luxury hotels!" Emerald yelled. Peppy interrupted with bad news.

"Well, the planet is nothing more than a waist land," Peppy said. A picture of the inland showed up, totally demolished.

"AHHHH! Who the heck did that!?" Emerald yelled. Another picture showed up, showing the little mechs roaming around the ruins.

"Well, I guess we know what to do." Falco said. Peppy interrupted Falco to make sure he doesn't leave.

"Not yet Falco. There's something you should see first." He pulled up another picture, showing mechs with wings. "As you can see, some of these mechs are able to fly."

"So, we have to split up again." Falco groaned. Fox began to announce their positions.

"Okay, Slippy, Krystal, Emerald, you take the skies. Falco, you can take the ground with me." Fox said. Everyone agreed with enthusiasm.

"Alright! Let's take care of these wire heads!" Emerald yelled. She jumped up in the air with a great amount of energy.

"Ok, let's go!" After Fox's announcement, they charged for the ships. They hopped in the Arwings and prepared to launch. Since Emerald wasn't able to fly a ship for two days, the team had enough time to create a fifth slot for her Arwing. 

"YA! Let's go! Take off!" Emerald yelled. The Arwings were detached from the hanger and in no time, they blasted off to the planet. Fox and Falco separated from the formation to land somewhere in the outskirts of the town so they could go on foot. They jumped out of there Arwings and got all their weapons ready. Fox got out his binoculars and looked at the city. He scoped in and out, seeing tons of mechs traveling the city. Fox spotted one civilian but it was caught by a mech. The mech stomped on the civilian's legs and smashed it with its arm. Fox turned away so he couldn't see the massive bloodshed caused by these fiends.

"What is it Fox? Should we head in there now?" Falco asked. Fox put back his binoculars and stomped on the ground with power.

"Those wire heads are killing off the people!" He yelled. Falco jumped up a little and got out his blaster with anger.

"Well then what are we waiting for! Let's destroy those sacks of metal!" He yelled They charged for the city without any fear.

The city was in ruins and fire was roaring everywhere as the mechs continued to destroy what was already eradicated. The mechs were showing no mercy as they charged for anything that they saw alive. Fox couldn't stand seeing the crushed bodies on the ground with the blood spread out everywhere. The rest of the team didn't see the bodies but they knew what was happening. They were considered the lucky ones.

"Okay team, this is your objective. These things don't show any mercy or remorse for anything that lives. They will crush you the instant they sense you. There should be more survivors on the ground since the mechs are still roaming around. Your task is to find survivors and get them to a safe location," Peppy finished. Everyone charged for the city.

"Whoa! It looks like they knew we were coming!" Slippy yelled as tons of air mechs started to rise in the air. Slippy swerved sideways to dodge the many of lasers that were headed for him. He boosted forward and shot a couple of ships down. Krystal headed forward to take care of the remaining ones until one did a loop and followed her.

"I'm coming Krystal!" Emerald yelled. She spun sideways and lowered her elevation to get to Krystal. She shot her laser in multiple of directions to get the mech confused until she just shot straight for it, burning it to the ground. "Oh yea!" Emerald yelled as she turned around and shot the other flying mechs. Fox was on the ground with Falco by his side, shooting the mechs down one by one. The mechs prove challenging as they grouped together and marched forward, along with dozens of shot coming from them.

"Dang! We can't get threw them!" Falco yelled. He tried to poke his head from the side of the building, but he couldn't get his head past the incoming lasers.

"We need a diversion to break their formation," Fox said. He heard the mechs charge even further, but there diversion was on the way. The problem was it wasn't a diversion they wanted.

"Anyone out there! I need help! My children are in danger!" a woman yelled as the mechs stopped there firing and turned around, causing Fox and Falco to jump out.

"Oh no you don't!" Falco yelled as he kicked the nearest mech with intense power, causing it to land face first on the ground. The other mechs turned around and saw the two of them, so they jumped up and surrounded Falco and Fox. 

"It looks like we're gonna have to fight them hand to hand," Falco said. He took a battle stance to get ready.

"Just don't get squished in there okay?" Fox said. Falco just groaned and waited for a mech to move. One mech charged forward and raised its arm high. Fox jumped forward and did a drop kick, causing the mech to fall down flat on the ground. The other ones came with anger as the two of them just continued to fight. Thanks to the metal boots they were wearing, their legs couldn't get hurt by the metal robots. 

Falco jumped high in the air and extended his leg, striking a mech straight into the ground. He jumped out of the small hole and kicked the other mechs that were close by. Fox was staying low to the ground as the mechs were getting close together, trying to at least trip Fox, but his reactions and his recovery time was too quick for them. Without any idea, Fox was causing the mechs to hit each other as he jumped on the mechs faces. 

"Falco! Let's take care of these mechs!" Fox yelled. The two of them put a bomb on the ground and jumped out, leaving a huge explosion behind them. They turned around and saw the scraps of metal falling down from the sky, basically what was left of the mechs. Fox turned to the woman and addressed himself. "I am Fox, leader of the Starfox team, and this is Falco. You said that you needed help with your children?" The woman nodded with a smile on her face and some tears with it.

"Oh! I am so glad you came here! It's my son and daughter! They're in the hotel in the north, only a mile away! I had to find someone quickly before the dreaded mechs found them!" The woman yelled. Fox nodded. Suddenly, a couple of mechs jumped in the air and rushed north. Falco caught one by the corner of his eye and kicked one to the ground.

"Where the heck are they going!?" Falco yelled as Peppy informed them quickly.

"They must've heard the woman talk about the children and they're headed for them! You must get there before they do!" Peppy yelled. The two of them rushed forward with intense speed.

"Save my children!" The woman yelled. They had the words implanted in their heads. In the air, Emerald, Krystal, and Slippy were having no problem tearing up the mechs. It seemed like the mechs were going easy on them since they had no tactic going.

"How many of these weaklings have to show up? I don't understand why they're going easy?" Emerald asked as she took down another mech. Peppy was sitting back, trying to think of an easy answer for this.

"I don't know, but at least this is going smoothly," Krystal said. She shot another one down with ease. Peppy thought that they were up to something, that it had to be part of their plan, but he couldn't think of a reason. He watched the mechs closely and the team shot them down with ease.

"Let's not jinx our good luck; we're getting the good side of this," Slippy said. Peppy was watching really closely as he sat tacitly, even trying to hear what could be the problem. Suddenly, he heard a cry of pain and he saw one of the ships crash into a building where people were still alive.

"WAIT! STOP FIRING!" Peppy yelled as the arwings stopped completely.

"What's up Peppy?" Slippy said. Peppy slammed his clenched hand on the computer desk.

"I knew there was something wrong! These mechs are being destroyed on purpose! These mechs can't be destroyed on impact unless their core is damaged so they're letting you shoot them so they can explode on the buildings to kill any survivors!" Peppy yelled as they all gasped.

"WHAT!? Then what are we supposed to do!?" Emerald yelled. The mechs turned around slowly and started to shoot towards the team. 

"I don't know, I can't think of a way to destroy them in the air. They can only self destruct when they hit something," Peppy said. The team dodged the mechs lasers. 

"Wait; can't we make them hit something else like a laser?" Krystal asked, but Peppy shook his head.

"According to these readings, the mechs have to hit matter, not energy." Peppy said. Slippy came up with an idea in an instant.

"How about we make them hit some rubble on the ground! These Arwings have a retractable claw that can pick up something small! If we can get some rocks from the ground without damaging it! We can toss it at them before they hit a building!" Slippy yelled. Peppy nodded with agreement.

"Good idea Slippy! Now go for it team!" He yelled with joy. The Arwings headed for the ground to accomplish their mission. 

Fox and Falco were racing forward to the hotel with the two children, trying to get there before the mechs, but the mechs that were already ahead and nowhere in sight. 

"Fox! I don't see those mechs anywhere! Do you think they already got there?" Falco yelled. Fox continued to sprint forward with Falco.

"I don't know, but we still need to get there," Fox said as they continued onward. Suddenly, other mechs came out of the buildings and gave chase to them from behind. 

"Fox, we've got some fans," Falco said. He looked behind him and saw the mechs rushing to them. 

"Then let's lose them!" Fox yelled. They took a tight turn to the right. The mechs obviously followed as they crashed into the buildings, showing that they couldn't make tight turns so well. Fox knew this so he kept on making the same turns until the mechs crashed into each other, causing them to explode.

"Fox! There's the building!" Falco yelled. They raced to it with intense speed, trying to make it in time. They finally got there and saw the kids cowering in fear. The two of them picked the two kids up. 

"Fox! The mechs are doing something!" Krystal yelled over the intercom. Fox looked up in the air. Most of the mechs were gone but the remaining ones, even the ground ones, were fleeing the stage. Soon, a rumble came afterwards and a huge, flying mech came from over the hills.

"Whoa! Is that a dragon!?" Slippy yelled. They looked at the mechs. The machine was about three times the size of an arwing and it looked like a European dragon. It was completely red as its wings made it fly higher and higher. 

"Fox! Falco! I've transferred the Arwings to your location! Destroy that dragon!" Peppy yelled. The two of them climbed in their Arwings and flew into the air. The kids first were dropped off to the mother and then they raced off to the dragon. 

"Data analysis complete! I'll show it on the monitor!" Slippy yelled. He pressed a few buttons in his arwing, causing a yellow, orange, and red bar appear on the screen. Fox raced forward and tried to shoot the dragon mech, but its armor deflected to lasers.

"Dang! We can't penetrate the armor!" Fox yelled. He turned around and came back.

"Scanning for a weak spot," ROB said. He started to press a few buttons on his computer. The dragon mech tried to swipe his arm and smack the ships but thanks to every bodies maneuvering skills, they were able to dodge it. The dragon was getting irritated so it curled into a ball.

"What the heck is it doing?" Falco asked as the dragon started to spin slowly. It spun faster and faster and a little spark of orange energy started coming off of it.

"Watch out! I'm sensing a powerful aura coming from the mech!" Krystal yelled as he mech glowed completely orange.

"That energy can slice us like tissue!" Falco yelled. Electricity came out of the dragon.

"Is it gonna ram us!?" Slippy hollered. They continued to circle around the mech, ready for almost everything.. Suddenly, the energy shot out and took the shape of the dragon, causing it to extend out and try to ram the team. They hurriedly moved out of the way as the energy went back inside the dragon.

"Whoa! We should make a mental note of that," Emerald said as they split up again. The dragon extended out and raced for the team.

"Hey! Peppy! What's that on its tail?" Krystal yelled. Peppy examined the little orb on its tail. 

"Team! That's its weak spot! Aim at the tip of its tail!" Peppy yelled. The team turned around to get to the tail.

"There are four of those on the mech," ROB said. The team looked around for the other orbs.

"There's two more on the wings!" Slippy yelled as they started to shoot the energy orb. When it was shot, the dragon fidgeted and did a U-turn. He was now afraid and didn't feel very safe.

"It's afraid of us! We got it on the run!" Krystal yelled. She did a loop and shot the ones on it's left one. Suddenly, an explosion went off on the wing and the dragon started to go slower.

"Hey! Every time we shoot down one of the orbs, it looses power!" Slippy yelled. Falco rushed in to destroy the other orb on the other wing.

"Well then let's take care of these orbs!" Falco yelled. He backed up and started to shoot the one on the tail. The dragon couldn't take it so it started to curl up in a ball again. 

"Oh no you don't!" Falco yelled as he launched a bomb on the tail, causing the orb to explode. There was one more orb to destroy but they couldn't find it on the external side.

"Wait? ROB, where's the last one?" Fox asked. ROB pressed a few buttons on his computer. 

"It is inside the mech," he said, leaving everyone with their mouth open.

"How are we supposed to destroy one on the inside!?" Falco yelled. The mech spun around with intense speed. The orange energy spun our and started to follow the team. 

"Okay, I've got an idea." Krystal said as she did a U-turn, dodging the energy. The energy went back in the dragon and the dragon charged for Krystal.

"Take this!" Krystal yelled. She shot a bomb in the dragon, causing it to explode from the inside. 

"The shields are down! We did it!" Slippy yelled. The dragon exploded in the air. The team's job was done and they headed for the Great Fox, until a message was blinking from there communicator. 

"So, how'd you like my show?" A familiar voice said as Fox was left in shock.

"Wolf!?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Katt Lover"

In the deepest part of outer space, Fox, Falco, Emerald, Slippy, and Krystal were hovering with Wolf right in front of them. Wolf's ship was battered and beat up with sparks coming out of it. The red shine that used to come out of it was now dull and the armor was bare as the wires dangled out of the ship. The liquid from the ship was spewing out as the ship went up and down. Wolf O'Donnell was a dark grey fox with a black, leather suite on him. It was a little torn up with some blood stains on it. His face was a little cut up with red spots from the blood all over.

The tip of his grey tail was cut off as he breathed with intensity. His hard breathing showed that he was in a fight, with a little thinking, it seemed like he was in a ground fight but he had to flee. The oddest thing was that the rest of the team wasn't with him, his own partners were gone.

"Wolf. . . What happened to you?" Fox said with great sympathy. The thought of his rivalry with Wolf was cast aside as he saw the wounds bleed with defeat. Fox's emotions were full of remorse, seeing the once honorable Wolf loosing his dignity, but he was wondering, how?

"Save you pity for someone else, I just need your help that's all," Wolf said, coughing a few times. His coughing was causing him to spit out blood and cover the screen with small spots of red.

"Wait, did you set this whole thing up, just to destroy the town. . ." Fox growled. Wolf just grinned and laughed a little. Even though Wolf lost his dignity by being defeated, he still wanted to show that he was tough and under control.

"Ya, like I wanted to cut myself up, destroy my favorite vacation spot, and destroy my own team." Wolf said, leaving everyone in shock. Wolf never would let his team be eradicated; he was too close to his team to leave his team for even the slightest second. He may not show it, but a soft side towards his team is inside him.

"Wolf, where is Panther? Or Leon? You usually have your team with you," Krystal asked. Wolf just closed his eyes in silence. His thoughts were maddening to her, seeing pain, agony, and regret. She couldn't tell exactly what happened to him, but she knew it was something tragic.

"They're. . . Gone," Wolf said with a small tear coming from his eye. The tear seeped into one of his dreaded wounds, causing him to shake a little with pain. He tried to hide his pain by turning away and not closing his eyes, but the pain from the tear and the pain of his lost was too immense for even him.

"What!? What happened to them!? As far as I know no one but use even stood a chance against you!?" Falco yelled. He clenched his hand and bashed the controls. He didn't like the fact that he had no challenge left for his life. His whole life was bent on defeating Leon (Or let Leon defeat him.)

"We were attacked by those damn mechs! They surrounded us and charged for an attack. . . I thought we could take them, but we did take them out," Wolf yelled. His eyes started to gleam and shine from the forming tear. "But, just when we destroyed them all, we were ambushed by not mechs, but a man." Wolf clenched his hand and banged the ship, causing the ship to rock back and forth.

"Fox, we have to take him to the Great Fox before his ship implodes," Peppy said. He pressed a few buttons, making a claw come out and grab the ship, but Wolf retaliated. He clearly didn't want to leave since he struggled to get the claws loose, but for the sake of Wolf's survival, Peppy didn't let go. The rest of the team soared into the main docking bay as Wolf's ship went in the second docking bay.

The team went down there in a matter of seconds as they watched the ship spark rapidly. The claws were being damaged as the electricity settled on the claws. The claws ripped the cockpit of the ship and tried to grab Wolf, but he retaliated with a devastating kick. The claws attempted to grab for him again but Wolf didn't want the give up. With no boots or gloves on, his skin wasn't enough to block the metal rubbed against his skin.

Finally, from the massive blood lost, Wolf passed out and the battered up claws grabbed a hold of Wolf gently and laid him on the ground. Fox rushed forward and grabbed Wolf. He carried Wolf on his shoulder and made sure his body wasn't dragging on the ground, but of course some blood was left.

In the infirmary, Wolf was awake since he was treated by Krystal and Emerald. He had white patches and bandages all over him, even some cloth that tied around him so the blood would stop coming out. The bandages and cloth were slowly turning red as more blood came out, but it was a lot slower than a few minutes ago.

"You idiots, I didn't ask you to help me!" he yelled. He crossed his arms and turned his head. Not even a little bit of thanks was showing from the inside or out. He was very strict when it came to someone helping him but his team. His pride and dignity was ruined as he looked at his wrapped up arms and legs. He wanted to clench his hands and bang the table but the team was constantly starring at him so he couldn't do that.

"So, the Starwolf team is gone. . ." Fox said. He looked at Wolf, thinking that he would say something. Fox was trying to be a friend to Wolf since he lost his team, his friends, his life, but the independent leader was too strict and angry to accept any friendship from a leader that _has_ his team and _has_ his life.

"CAN IT FOX! JUST REPAIR MY SHIP AND GET ME OFF THIS SHIP!" Wolf yelled. He pushed Fox to the wall and marched forward. Slippy and Falco were going to stop him, but Fox held his hand up, a sign that says let him go. Wolf went towards the second docking bad as he hopped into his destroyed ship. All his memories lied in the cockpit, the place where his life started and where he plans it to end.

"Your name is Wolf. . . I guess it's safe to say you're a wolf." A female voice said as it walked into the docking bay in a slow pace. The echoes of the footsteps traveled through docking bay as Wolf just remained sitting. It was Emerald and she seemed interested in Wolf as she looked up at his Wolfen.

"What do you want? I don't want to be bothered right now," Wolf said in a sincere way. He knew that Panther wouldn't like it if a lady was talk to bad. The thought made him tear up again. A strong emotion surrounded him and made Emerald jump up on the ship to get to Wolf. She extended her arm and wiped the tears off of his face. "Please, don't. I'm already humiliated enough just by letting my team down." Disturbing thoughts went threw his head. The clouded mind of Wolf was very confusing as he started banging his head. He wanted to forget, he wanted to take it away, he wanted to die.

"Hey, please don't do that, I don't like it when people hit themselves," Emerald said as she grabbed his two hands. Wolf struggled with all of his might but she just wouldn't let go. Wolf stopped and collapsed on himself. The sweet voice from Emerald calmed the beast within him. The Wolf his team knew wouldn't do this, he wouldn't think this way either. The Wolf they knew would continue on and fight for revenge.

"Are. . . Are you okay?" Emerald asked. Wolf nodded. He stood up with pride as he grinned in the air. The light from the docking bay shined off of his fur as he crossed his arms and looked at Emerald. The green eyes he gazed at made him smile instead of grin, only for a little bit.

"Hey, take me to the bridge will you? I need a lady to take me there," Wolf said. Emerald nodded with joy. She liked it when everyone was happy, especially when she was the one doing it. It brought happiness to her as she walked towards the bridge.

In the bridge, Peppy was pressing a few buttons to figure out the location of the other ships. He wanted to find out where the other ships were so he can direct the team to the mechs. There was no trace, so far, dealing with the search, but it had to be delayed since Wolf and Emerald were on there way.

"Hello Peppy!" Emerald yelled. Wolf looked at him with a surprising one. He didn't know that Peppy was still here ever since a rumor of his retiring was around. He didn't want to mention it so he let it slide, but it still wondered in his mind as the rest of the team joined them.

"So, Wolf, what are you gonna do now?" Slippy asked him nicely. Of all the people that would actually talk to him when he was in a bad mood. Even if he wasn't in a bad mood, no one would dare try to set him straight, but oddly enough, he actually cooperated.

"Well. . . *Sigh*. . . Like my team would want me to do. . . Find some new members," Wolf said. The team just sat back and wondered. Someone with such a tragedy, such a loss, how could they just let it go. Is he heartless? Does he care for the lost of his fellow teammates? Or, is he trying to do what his friends would want him to do. Those were the thoughts of Fox and the gang, but it wasn't time to think much about that.

"Where can you find anyone that was as good as them? You can't find someone like that just around the corner," Falco said calmly. Wolf glared at him. The glare was filled with emotions, too many to explain. Even an emotion of happiness was in his eye. Falco didn't change his mood as they starred each other down.

"Easy, we go to Zoness," Wolf said. Falco struck his mouth to the ground. Zoness was where his ex-girlfriend lives, Katt. Katt was a pink cat of course that broke up with Falco long ago. He didn't like the fact that Wolf could ask Katt to join his team, the retched thought.

"Okay, if I repair your ship, will you help us with this mech mess?" Peppy asked. Wolf just chuckled a little. He usually is full of tricks and loves to mess with people's heads, but with the way and sound of his chuckle being different, it meant he wouldn't.

"Of course, as long as you give me somewhere to sleep, eat, and anything else that I need, okay?" Wolf asked. He walked away from the bridge with a smile on his face. Emerald wanted to follow, but she somehow knew that he wanted to be alone.

It was 5:34, and the Great Fox was at a steady pace, Peppy making sure it doesn't rock around. Wolf was in one of the living rooms, sleeping on the couch soundly. Krystal and Emerald were sleeping soundly too, beside the fact that Emerald was snoring. It was the same for Fox, Falco, and Slippy too for it will be a long time before they reach Zoness. Peppy however, was about to wake up since ROB was turning on the power to the ship and whatnot. Emerald had a feeling in her again that made her wake up the same time Peppy did.

She shrugged and got up, picking up her cloths so she could get ready. She made it in the bathroom and took a nice clean shower. She got her body armor on and her fur all dried up as she headed out of the bathroom. This time, she didn't know where she was going, a sense inside her was leading her somewhere, so she listened and followed. It was then she was by the living room door, the place where Wolf resided. She wanted to open it, oh the sweet desire to talk to Wolf again, how lovely it felt to hear his voice. It was a strange way to like a sound of some ones voice, but some sounds were never meant to be heard again.

Robotic footsteps started coming threw the ship, big, powerful, and so familiar. Emerald finally turned around and was in shock, complete petrifaction. The mech was back, with a vengeance. It pulled out its arm and tried to shoot, but with the extreme damage it had, the spinning of the gattling gun started to spark and implode. It got irritated so it chased after Emerald.

"I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!" Emerald yelled. She jumped in the air and did a spin kick, causing the mech to back up a little. She rushed forward and tried to punch the mech, but her hand was scratched up by the metal. She blew on it a little as she waved it around. The mech punched Emerald, making her fly backwards. Suddenly, a hand caught her before she hit the wall. It was Wolf, and he looked like he knew this was going to happen since he was ready to go.

"I think you need these," he said with his low toned voice. He handed Emerald a pair of one of his extra metal gloves. The mech charged after them, punching Wolf in the face. Emerald kicked the extended mechanical arm and punched the body of the menace. It blocked the second kick and grabbed Emeralds leg with its hand. Without any notice, the mech's gattling gun arms transformed into hands. It smashed her to the walls over and over again until Wolf came to her need, kicking it to the wall with intense power.

The crashing and bashing in the ship still wouldn't wake everyone up, an odd thing for even the laws of physics. Emerald got out of the mech's grip and went by Wolf. The mech was stuck to the wall a little until he got out of the dent and walked around with a daze in his head. It started to slam its fist into the ground, progressing forward with a precarious march. The two of them had to back up as the floor ahead of them was getting destroyed.

They bumped into a dead end and watched the mech get closer and closer. Wolf got tired of the mechs charge so he rushed forward and blocked the incoming arm. The mech grabbed his arm and pulled, but its grip wasn't good enough as it ripped Wolf's skin off. Emerald covered her eyes and turned away for she didn't like the site of blood, but the only thing she saw was some artificial skin flutter around as she saw Wolf grab a hold of the mech's hand with his metal hand.

He pulled on the mechs arm and ripped it off with all of his might. Then, he lifted his leg and struck straight down, cutting the other arm straight off of the mech. The mech was backing away with no offensive weapon left on him. Wolf finished it off finally with a spin kick, ripping the thing in half. He finally was done, revealing the robotic parts he had all over his body. Most of his upper body was robotic, connected with his arm and his leg as he turned around, showing his red left eye. Emerald couldn't believe what she was seeing, she couldn't believe that someone could become a cyborg like he was, but still keep his emotions in tact.

"Wh. . . What happened to you?" Emerald asked finally, gulping all of her fear and replacing it with curiosity. Wolf sighed and picked up some of the artificial skin still fluttering around. He looked at it like it was a flack of memory, something that shouldn't be revealed again, so he didn't reveal it.

"It was too long ago, I shouldn't be talking about it. Get over here and look at this," Wolf said as he waved his hand, telling Emerald to come, which she did. "Look at this, it's a vibration absorber, the mech kept placing that there every time it came so no one could here it."

"But, how did you here it? No one else could here it?" Emerald asked. She looked at Wolf's mechanical eye closely. The redness looked at her green eye with such intensity, something that made Emerald shiver in fear, until the other eye looked at her, taking away all the fear.

"Lot's of my senses has turned into robotic senses, detecting stuff that a normal person can't detect, but this kind of stuff has its downside," he said, looking down at his robotic arm. He stared at the polished piece of work, but every time he saw the metal, he clenched his hand with anger. "This robotic side of me has no emotion, no sincerity, just calculations. IT BROUGHT NOTHING BUT DEATH TO MY FRIENDS!" He got his real arm and bashed his robotic arm.

"Wolf! Please stop! I don't want to see people in pain!" Emerald yelled. Wolf continued to bash the arm. It was clear to her that the robotic menace on his arm caused him so much misery, but with her sense of kindness and a pure heart, she didn't like seeing pain.

"PAIN!? THIS ARM CAN'T FEEL ANY PAIN! IT'S LIFELESS! SOULESS! CARELESS! ALL IT CARED ABOUT WAS THE CALCULATION OF ITS SURVIVAL! NOT MY TEAMS!" Wolf yelled. He broke down and burst into tears of anger and sadness. Emerald knew now that something his robotic arm did caused the death of his team. She wrapped her arms around Wolf, trying to make him have someone that cares about him. No one with a soul can just throw away a loss this big; it will stay with him for a long time.

It was roughly 7:56 and the whole team was up, picking up the pieces form the mech. Wolf was back to his normal self as he watched the team pick up the pieces. His robotic self was still showing, but no one dared to ask about his robotic self. Once all the pieces were picked up, they took it to the garage so it could be dismantled and launched into space.

"This should take care of it once and for all," Slippy said. He pressed a few buttons on a control high from where the pieces were. Suddenly, two huge, square platforms rose up and smashed the pieces. Then, the ceiling and floor rose up and down, smashing the pieces again. It went in the same rotation until the pieces were almost microscopic. Slippy pressed another button and a shield rapped around the team. Then, a giant hatch opened, causing every thing that didn't weigh more than 1000 pounds fly into space.

"Now we don't have to worry about that annoying piece of scrap," Falco said, walking away as the door closed slowly. The team and Wolf were on the bridge as they saw Zoness closing in fast. Zoness was mostly like a murky green color since the ocean was like that, but the size wasn't as big as the other planets surrounding it.

"Okay team, your only mission is to get in contact with Katt so Wolf can talk with her," Peppy said as the team nodded. Even though Falco didn't like the idea of Katt being with Wolf, he still thought that he could see Katt more if she was with Wolf, so he just backed off.

"Hey you old hare, is my ship ready?" Wolf demanded. Peppy nodded, not responding back with a word. Wolf closed his eyes and grinned. His ship was special to him, not only because of the memory it held, because it had a special way of making artificial skin for Wolf so he can hide his robotic side from public eyes.

"Okay team, when the Great Fox lands on the airstrip, we make our way for Katt. This place is full of bandits and thugs so we have to be careful. Krystal and I will go downtown, Falco and Slippy will go to the entertainment district and Wolf. . ." Fox didn't finish, he knew that Wolf was a former leader so he didn't like to be ordered around.

"I'll just go to where all the fighting is," Wolf said. He turned away and headed for the docking bay. Emerald followed right behind him to make sure nothing bad happens to him. Her care for Wolf grew every second she was with him, even though Wolf didn't like being with her as much.

Before Wolf was ready to go outside, he hoped in his ship and pressed a few buttons. The ship got out a few mechanical arms and started to patch his robotic self with artificial skin. The moment the Great Fox landed and the hatch opened, Wolf walked out with Emerald following him.

"Okay, if you want to follow me, you have to stick with a couple of rules," Wolf said as Emerald starred into his eyes, ready to listen. "One, don't cuddle up on me, it's just embarrassing. Two, don't talk about my robot self, I hate it when people call me a cyborg." Emerald was trying to pay attention but the stare into his eye was too mesmerizing. "And three, don't stare at me like that, people will think you like me and that will be just too weird, got it?" Wolf asked as Emerald hopped a little and nodded.

"Yes, now we can go." Emerald said. Wolf nodded and the two of them walked into the town. Krystal was watching from afar, worried about her safety. She didn't know if she could trust Wolf that well, even though he helped them with the Appariods, he still might go crazy with his great loss in mind.

"C'mon Krystal," Fox said. She opened her eyes and followed Fox into the town. The whole town was on a dock, away from the murky water. Of course, no beach was there since the dock was artificially made. The town was only known for industrial reasons. Slippy and Falco were walking around in the streets, looking for Katt in the place full of casinos and strip bars. The odd thing was there was no other entertainment, just different companies rivaling each other.

"You don't think Katt is working in one of these companies, do you?" Slippy asked, continuing looking around. He got a little irritated seeing a casino and a strip bar over and over and over again, it was maddening. It wasn't the fact that he didn't like gambling or strip bars, its just he couldn't stand seeing it over and over again.

"Well, we can ask around, I think I know we'll have a good time with it anyways," Falco said as he entered a strip bar closest to them. The place had lights flashing everywhere, mostly pink or hot pink. Falco didn't want to be disrespectful to the women so he ignored the pole dancing and headed straight for one of the men on the table. It was clear he was completely drunk, but he thought that a man couldn't forget someone like Katt that easily.

"Hey, could you tell me if you've seen a woman named Katt?" Falco asked. The man turned to them and just laughed. The man looked like he had a miserable day since a couple of rounds were by him. His hiccups were coming every time he took a second breath, making it hard to understand him.

"Nope, (Hiccup) But I did see a pink cat that worked here before. (Hiccup) Her body was great, (Hiccup) I wanted to get to her butt (Hiccup) she was a feisty one, beating me (Hiccup) to a pulp." The man finally finished as he slammed the table to get more beer. The bartender was getting irritated with him as she continued to give him more and more beer.

"Hey, if you want Katt, she's gone. She doesn't work here ever since all those guys tried to get her," the bartender said. Falco sat down to listen. The woman was a cat too, but she was red, an odd color for a cat. She looked poor and irritated with working all day with drunks, so Falco thought he could do something about her.

"How would you know Katt?" Falco said. He was offered some beer, but he denied. The woman smiled and sat down on the chair behind her. Falco couldn't stop noticing the tail flickering back and forth, it reminded him about when he was with Katt.

"Maybe you can figure it out Falco Lombardi," she said as he opened his eyes with shock. Slippy stepped into the conversation. His thoughts were pointed to one thing, how does the woman know Falco? Of course everyone knows his first name, but only a few people knew his last.

"The real question right now is "How would _you_ know Falco"?" Slippy asked as he pressed his head forward, glaring at the bartender. Slippy was trying to interrogate her with a stare down, but the woman's angry eye made him reconsider and sit back down, drinking the cup.

"Well, if you really want to know, _I_ am her sister. My name is Kate," she said as Falco sat down, ready to listen to a story. "Katt worked here for sometime, thinking since here ship was destroyed, she can get enough money for a new custom one. But the price was high. I. . . I didn't want her working here for money. Soon, everybody knew her for her body, not her soul." Kate began to cry a little as Falco wiped it from her face. "Thanks, now, the one thing Katt wouldn't do is to strip bare. The men did like her but they wanted more, exactly what happens to someone that drinks. Katt had to fight one guy that demanded her to strip." She stopped because the drunk guy was laughing out loud.

"Yep, (Hiccup) that would be me. I mean, who (Hiccup) wouldn't want to see that (Hiccup) cat naked," the guy said as he laughed out loud again. Falco was clenching his hand, but he let go of the tension. He knew that if he knocked the guy out, he would be just as bad.

"Yes, as I was saying. Soon, the whole bar got angry and fought her, she was strong enough to fight them off but she couldn't stand it. She quit and headed for a more quiet approach, something more business like." Kate finally finished. Falco rubbed his chin with deep thought.

In the downtown section, Fox and Krystal were asking around the place. They got a few answers of the whereabouts, leading them to a big industrial building. When they entered, it was quite and dull. Many people were on computers and the only sound was the many buttons being clicked on the keyboards.

"Let's head for the manager so we can get this settled," Fox said. They walked forward to the elevator. Krystal just looked at everyone in a weird way. How could anyone live so dully? This question roamed around her mind a little as she entered to elevator with confusing thoughts in her head.

They finally reached the top and walked out of the elevator, reaching a door straight ahead. The door was pretty big as Fox and Krystal entered it slowly. In the room was nothing much, two chairs, a couple of book cases, and a desk with a man sitting in a big chair.

"Excuse me, have you seen a lady named Katt around here?" Fox asked. The manager turned around with a straight look on his face. The man seemed mad as he looked at Fox with an insinuating glare. The man was obviously irritated since he didn't say a word for about ten seconds. Then, he finally spoke.

"Yes, the lady named Katt worked here for a while. She was actually a pretty good worker, but it was then she snapped," he said as Fox and Krystal sat down to listen. "She was working one day until she just stopped. I went over to her to see what was the matter until she grabbed the computer and threw it on the ground. She rushed out of there, climbing over the desks and tearing off her business suite. If I were you, I would go where the thugs were hanging out." The man finally finished as they stood up and bowed.

"Thank you for the information," Krystal said. They walked out of the office without another word. In the fighting district, Wolf and Emerald were walking together, seeing the bums on the street. The city was bitter smelling, and the look was awful as bruised up man stumbled threw the city. He fell over as blood seeped threw the wooden bridge. Emerald didn't like seeing this, but she had to bare it for Wolf's sake.

They finally entered a fight club where tons of men were surrounding a arena, cheering for a certain someone. They finally peeped there heads in, seeing someone they couldn't believe. Katt was the fighter, and she was beating everyone in the arena. By the amount of sweat coming of her pink fur, she was fighting for quite some time. The last guy that was fighting her was beaten up pretty badly, his arm was completely broken, shattered by the looks of it.

Wolf didn't want to waste time, so he pushed threw the crowd to get to Katt, with Emerald not too far behind. When Katt finally looked up to see who her next opponent was, she felt a little delusional. She shook her head to make sure she wasn't seeing things, then again, her black eye made it so she couldn't see anyways.

"Wait. . . Am I seeing myself here?" From the looks of it, she thought she was seeing herself since Emerald was pink too. She looked to the right a little and saw Wolf, making her stand up completely straight with anger. She despised Wolf ever since she saw him for some reason.

"What do you want? I'm guessing you want a fight? I can take you on easily!" Katt yelled. She readied her battle stance. Her stance was different, but very efficient. Her hands were out, the left one out and away from her, and the right one was close in and towards her. Her left leg was out and bent as he right leg was a little behind her.

"I didn't come to fight you, I wanted you to join my team but you lead me no choice," Wolf said. He bent on of his knees forward and one backward, making him able to slide around. He extended on arm out and bent one arm back in his own distinct way.

"I don't care what you want!" Katt yelled as she charged for Wolf. She made a swing for Wolf with her left arm, causing Wolf to block it with his left. She duck to the ground and tried to do a spin kick, but Wolf jumped in the air and kicked Katt in the face with one of his spin kicks. She spun around and landed on her feet, wiping the little bit of blood on her face.

She jumped forward and did somersaults, jumping on her hands and feet. Her last jump kicked Wolf in the face and to the ground. Wolf grabbed her legs and spun her around, making her land on her hands and less in pushup position. Wolf jumped up and

elbowed her to the ground, causing a few cracks to go off. She wrapped her legs around him and tossed him forward by grabbing a crack on the floor.

Wolf landed on the wall with his robotic leg, causing him to push forward with intense power. He tried to punch Katt but she blocked it as they looked at each other with a grin on Wolf's face, but a face of anger on Katt's. They started to go into a brawl of many fists as they fought fiercely on the ground. Katt finally having a chance to block a punch so she can make a hit, but Wolf's punch was powerful, nearly crushing her forearm.

Wolf saw his chance and grabbed her leg, spinning her around in circles. He let go and made her crash on the wall. She landed on her knees and arms as she gasped for air. Wolf slowly walked over but Katt wasn't done yet. She grabbed his tail that was dangling down and pulled it, causing him to land on his back. Katt jumped in the air and launched her leg to Wolf, but he blocked it with his arm. Katt was shocked when she saw the robotic part of his arm.

"What!? You and your team _still_ have those robotic parts!?" Katt yelled. Wolf was being self conscious about it. His arms clenched with anger, but the screeching of his robotic arm made him stop. Suddenly, his anger made him shed a little tear. Katt saw it and watched it with awe, she didn't know that he of all people could shed a tear.

"My. . . Team is dead, I'm looking for. . . For new members," Wolf said. He turned his head away so he can hide his shame, but Katt walked to him and placed her hand on his shoulder with sincerity. She didn't want to cause even more pain, even though she was the one with the most physically.

"I'm sorry Wolf, if I'd known, then I would've reconsidered. If you really want me to join, I will," Katt said. She walked up to him and patted him on the back. "Come on, get up, we have a long way to go before we get to know each other." Katt said. Wolf turned to her and for once in his life, he laughed a joyful laugh.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Reunion"

It was still a bit early in the morning, 11:46am to be exact as Wolf and Katt made their way to the Great Fox. Emerald already made it to the Great Fox to tell Peppy, something Wolf asked her to do in order for him to talk to Katt alone. On the way, Wolf explained to Katt everything that has happened to him and his team. Katt was touched. She would usually have no consideration or feelings of remorse for Wolf, but even she knew he had emotions. Out of nowhere, Wolf began to talk about the good times with his team, like when his team was destroyed by Fox and they were all rebuilt into cyborgs by Andross, but it also made him thing about the horrible things it made him do. Katt didn't get into it, but even if she did, they wouldn't be able to because of what happened next.

"Well, nice to see you here." It was Falco, obviously being sarcastic. All day he waited for them to come, just so he can give Wolf a piece of his mind about this crazy idea. It was just so infuriating to him, still baffled by why Katt would agree on such a ludicrous idea. Instead of Wolf being the one to come up with a snappy comeback, it was Katt that spoke first.

"I would say the same thing to you Falco, but I don't want to lie," she said with a small smirk. Falco raised an eyebrow, leaving him speechless. Even though Katt had a thing for Falco and Falco had sort of a thing with her, she still messed with the pilot's mind. Falco honestly didn't have a clue if that cat woman liked him or not, especially by the way she acts around him, but it wasn't so much of a bother with him.

"Hmph, whatever. Everyone's in the ship so let's just go," Falco snorted. He just walked back to the Great Fox without another word. Wolf grinned, hearing what Katt said and what she made Falco too. He didn't care for her so much, but she did have an attitude that he would admire himself.

"Wow, it seems like you two have quite a past together, don't you?" Wolf said with a sneer. Katt bent her head down and blushed, not of embarrassment, but of remembrance. She looked back at when they both were together, happy and cheerful. All the kind things Falco did for her, all the kind words he said to her. It would seem like a dream for him to act that way towards her now, or to anyone at all.

"Ya, it's days like that I always wish to bring back," she said as her tail curled around her legs. She didn't fully understand why Falco left her, even though he was very clear of why. She continued to think of how she could bring it all back, but every time she thought of that possibility, she thought of how long it's actually been. She didn't notice it, but her posture and facial expression changed as she thought. Wolf then did what he normally would never do. He patted her back and gave her a slight smile.

"Come on, let's get going." It was more like an order than a consideration, but Katt knew once she was looking at him that he was being sincere, somewhat. She just nodded her head as the two of them made their way into the gargantuan ship that's the Great Fox. What they didn't know was that someone was watching it all. It was Emerald, looking down from the command deck. She was holding her heart in the palm of her hands, trying her best to withstand it, but a voice made her jump.

"You okay Emerald?" The sound of Krystal's british accent filled voice made her jump with surprise. She was in her own little world, completely disconnected from anything around her until now. To her, it was almost like she was awaken from sleepwalking it was so heart stopping. "You seem to be sad about something?" Emerald shook her head quickly and vigorously with a smile.

"Nope! I'm fine! Nothing wrong with me!" Of course, she was faking it to the max. Krystal could sense a slight sadness in her thoughts, but what she didn't know was Emerald was cloaking the huge amount of sad thoughts in her head so Krystal wouldn't notice. As her cousin, Krystal knew that something was wrong with her, so she looked outside to see what was the matter. She only saw Wolf and Katt making their way into the Great Fox. After a few minutes of analyzing it all, she finally put the pieces together.

"Yo-yo . . . You like Wolf, don't you?" Krystal gasped. The blue wolf was in complete shock. How could anyone fall in love with a man like him? It was true, he was a tough person and a great fighter, but when it came to his personality and social skills, it was unheard of! Emerald hopped in the air a little..

"What!? Of course not! Come on! You know me!" Emerald tried her very best to keep it all in and cover it with lies, but the more she seemed to deny it, the harder it was to cloak it all in her mind. Krystal could sense the distress she was going through a little bit of a time, but didn't know the full extent of it all. She looked at Emerald straight in the eyes, peering into her very soul, but it all had to stop once the rest of the team came in.

"Okay Wolf, now that you have Katt on your side, where else would you want to go next?" Peppy said as he made his way to his chair. He pressed a few buttons, causing the Great Fox to slowly launch into space. Krystal looked at Emerald and they both knew they weren't finished with this, but had to put it to a halt. Wolf thought to himself for a bit. Katt made it into the category as a tough, outgoing fighter. He needed someone who was smart and had the courage, or the stupidity, to take on tasks that no one would consider doing. After all those thoughts, he came up with a perfect person.

"I've got the perfect perso-" Suddenly, the power went out completely. The ship was at a total shutdown. The Great Fox was now just an abandoned cruise ship at the most, floating in space with no control. The team was in shock, trying to understand what the problem could be. Evidentially, they turned to the only person who had any clue of what could be going on.

"This is not good, something just sucked all of our power straight from the core," Peppy said, trying his best to activate any kind of controls. It seemed utterly useless since there was no electricity running through anything, but he tried anyways. The sheer thought of something being able to do what Peppy just explained was just unthinkable, especially considering it got on the ship without anyone noticing.

"What!? How did something get on the ship without anyone noticing!?" Falco hollered. Everyone had the same question in their heads, but of course, they didn't blurt it out like Falco did because they all knew that Peppy probably didn't know why. However, Peppy did have sort of a theory that could explain how anything got in.

"Well, remember that mech that got in? It wasn't that hard for him to sneak in," Peppy explained. It was true, that mech got in without anyone noticing, so their number one suspect was that mech itself. "Luckily, I had a scanner installed in this ship that is solar powered, separate from the core." As he began to bring up the scanner, Emerald heard something from outside the bridge. It was a familiar noise, something that would normally bring her fear, but instead of one pair of feet, their were many. Emerald was so filled with shock, she couldn't say anything. Peppy finally brought up the screen, but as soon as he did, he saw the scanner reading the tons of enemies right out the door, but he had the strength to yell out. "GET DOWN!"

The door burst open, flying across the bridge. The whole team luckily ducked in time so they wouldn't be smacked by the door. The mechs were back with their gatling guns ready to fire. As The first one aimed and fired. Knowing they would be killed in an instant if they stayed still, they all took cover behind the desks. The sounds of ricocheting bullets were heard everywhere as the mech continued to shoot. The team was safe since the bullets couldn't pierce the desks.

"What do we do!? We have no weapons!" Slippy hollered. He was almost scared to death, hearing the many numbers of mechs out there and the grinding of the mech's gatling gun. He covered his ears as a few bullets ricochet next to him. They were all trying to think of someway to escape this all since they were literally pinned.

"Come on! They have to run out of bullets sooner or later!" Falco hollered. They all thought this could be someway to escape this trap, playing the waiting game since they had no other choice. In about 2 minutes, the mech ran out of ammo, giving the team some kind of hope. They peered their heads up to see if the shooting truly stopped, but as soon as one mech ran out of ammo, another switched placed with it and continued shooting. They all ducked back into cover.

"Well there goes that idea," Fox said. While everyone was trying to think of another way to get out, Peppy investigated everything that was going on. He saw that the glass above him was cracking. The glass could withstand high temperature lasers from enemy ships, but bullets were so out of date, the windows weren't bullet proof.

"Team, we need to figure out something quick before we're sucked into space," Peppy said. His concerned remark caused everyone to look up, seeing the glass crack slowly after each bullet. Krystal investigated the mechs as they continued to switch in and out as soon as each of them ran out of ammo. She was confused, wondering something that she was sure everyone was pondering.

"Why don't they just come after us? Their numbers are greater than ours," she stated. It was true, there were tens, maybe hundreds of mechs waiting to grind them to dust. It would take them nothing more than a few minutes to annihilate them all, so why not? It was really hard to think with all the noise going on around them and the pressure of the glass breaking, but someone came up with something.

"It's because they know that we can beat them in close combat. I noticed that they are fragile and hate being close to the enemy because of how easy it is for them to fall apart," Wolf said. His explanation was indeed correct. Every time the team encountered these tiny mechs, they were able to destroy them with ease. It was very valuable information, but at the time, nothing could be done.

"Well that's great and all, but with them shooting like this, we can't get through," Katt said. No one noticed, but Emerald was actually calculating the time the mechs were switching. She was paying close attention to when they were reloding and switching out. She also saw that the mechs didn't have a clear idea of where everyone was, so it gave her the greatest idea.

"I've got it!" Her cry of incite got everyone's attention in a jiffy. "Listen, the mechs don't know where we are, all they know is that we're in here! Every time they reload, they give us about 2 seconds to move! If we can gradually get closer every time they reload, we can get right to the door and ambush them!" It was a first, but Emerald came up with the best idea. It even made Falco grin.

"That's not a bad idea, let's do this!" Falco hollered, getting ready to make a sprint for it. The whole team was ready, bending down and waiting for the bullets to stop so they may rush further. With open ears, they all paid close attention, waiting not for the gun to fire in this race, but the firing to stop. And as soon as it did, Fox yelled out the order.

"Okay team! Let's move!" Quickly and without hesitation, they all hopped up to the next pair of desks. Once another mech came back, it continued to shoot randomly. It was working! They had no clue the team was progressing! They continued to do this, getting closer and closer to their target. It took several minutes, but that's all the time they needed. They all reached the wall, right next to the door. Everyone looked at each other, then at Fox. He and Wolf were the closest ones to the door on each side. The rivals looked at each other and nodded. Once the mech stopped shooting, they would charge. Anticipation was high, their hearts pounding. One slip up could be the end of it, but they went forward with it.

As soon as the shooting stopped, the fighting commenced. Fox and Wolf both entered the door, kicking the mech to the wall. In came the rest of the team, fighting off the horde of mechs that were coming their way. One after another they fell, standing no chance to the brute force the team was placing on them. Even Slippy was taking care of the mechs with ease. With two ways to go, the team had no clue where to turn. They just continued to fight. Peppy, however, had an idea of where to head to.

"First we need to get to the weapons vault so we may gear up!" Peppy hollered. They continued to bash their way through hordes as they kept on coming and coming, knowing that they would be thrashed in seconds. Even though it was dark, they all could still see what they were beating up. Light was still luckily emitting from the bulbs above them.

"Then what're we waiting for!? Let's get a move on!" Falco hollered. They all pushed the mech's to the left, trying to create an opening so they may get through. Luckily, there weren't many mechs to the left, so they were able to break down their defenses in an instant. Once the defenses were down, they made their way down to the hallway.

"Let's move!!!!" Fox commanded. As they pressed forward, the other mechs summoned their hover boots and charged after them. They were a lot faster than the team, but when it came to tight corners, they were the ones that crashed into the walls, slowing them down immensely. After running for about 3 minutes, they finally caught their breaths in the weapon's vault.

They collected every kind of weapon they could get their hands on. Fox snatching a machine gun, Krystal nabbing a bag of grenades, Falco grabbing an RPG, Slippy getting a hold of motion sensor detonators, Peppy latching onto a charge up laser, Katt grabbing a Sniper Rifle, and both Wolf and Emerald holding gatling guns. They all went outside, seeing the mechs in the hundreds facing them. The mechs were now terrified, seeing the sheer gunfire the team was packing. Putting on a devilish grin, Emerald was the one to shout out the enthusiastic order.

"Let's trash these metal heads!" The barrage of bullets commenced. In the tens, they fell. There was no escape from the frenzy of bullets, rockets, and lasers. The team was actually enjoying the fact that they were having the upper hand in it all, leaving nothing bust scraps of metal on the floor. The barrage didn't last as long, but the damage was done. All mechs in sight were destroyed. Once the smoke cleared, they all lowered their defenses and watched closely.

"Did we get them?" Slippy asked. Everyone wanted to think that it was as simple as that to take down these mechs, but as history told them, it was nearly impossible. The sounds of more mechs from above echoed across the ship. The team heard it all, making some of them gulp.

"I doubt it," Wolf said with a snort. A loud crash was heard behind them, seeing a mech with it's gatling gun hand ready to fire. The team immediately reacted by shooting with no hesitation. The mech was destroyed in an instant, but more began to take it's place as they gradually got closer, forcing the team to back up slowly.

"Let's head to the core! Once we get these lights on, the mechs will have to leave!" Peppy hollered. The team pushed back, still shooting behind them to slow the mechs down. On the way, more mechs were trying to slow them down, but since they had ammo with them, the team was able to eradicate any mech in their way. Following Peppy's directions, they finally made it to the large room, which was the core room.

"What is that ugly thing!?" Falco hollered. Around the dimmed core was a large, snake like robot. Electricity was running through the mech from the core itself. The snake was humongous, but for the team, it was just about as normal as any other machine they fought. The snake seemed asleep at the time, but thanks to Falco's shout, it was awake. It lifted it's head from the ground and slanted it's eyes.

"Oh nice going Falco," Slippy snapped back. Falco wanted to shout back at Slippy, but obviously, there was no time for that. The snake opened it's mouth and let out a horrifying hiss that echoed across the whole ship. It bent it's head back and readied itself for an attack.

"Let's put this snake in it's place!" Fox yelled. The team began to shoot, but the snake paid no attention. It charged for the team as they dodged quickly. It's teeth sank into the ground, but it got up with ease. The team's fires seemed to be doing some damage, but it wasn't doing a great amount as the attacks from the snake continued. With ammo running low, they all knew that they couldn't keep this up.

"Great! Usually I have the Landmaster for this kind of scrap metal!" Fox complained, dodging the attacks. Peppy thought to himself for a bit. He wished he could get the land master in here somehow, someway. Then, an idea popped in his head like none before.

"That's it! We'll get the Landmaster in here!" Peppy's idea made everyone think he was a bit insane. The idea of getting the Landmaster seemed impossible since it was in the hanger, all the way at the other side of the ship. Considering it was Peppy's idea, there had to be more to this plan than meets the eye. Sure, the Landmaster would be able to fit, but how to get it in there?

"Okay, that's a great idea and all, but we'd have to blast through every corridor from here to the hanger to get the Landmaster here," Fox said. Obviously, no one was too convinced to consider the idea as they kept on shooting and dodging for their lives. Peppy sneered, for the first time in a long time. He pulled out his wrist communicator and began to press a few buttons.

"Well this old hare still got a few tricks up his sleeve. Stand back!" Peppy yelled. Suddenly, a blue light formed above Fox. The light began to map out the shape of the Landmaster until it was totally virtualized. It fell, causing Fox to jump out of the way. Fox was amazed by what Peppy did, even though his transportation method almost got him killed. "I installed a teleporting device my communicator, just to make moving easier, but I thought it'd work for this and it did." Falco merely laughed.

"You old coot. Looks like your ideas haven't retired with you. Show them what you can to Fox!" Falco encouraged. Fox got into the Landmaster and readied it. He then directed the cannon and fired at the snake. The snake was greatly damaged, hissing with pain as it's head fell to the ground.

"Ya! You really nailed him!" Emerald hollered with joy. She was so excited to have a team like this and battles such as this. She couldn't help but hop in the air with excitement.

"Good shot Fox!" Krystal hollered. The snake wasn't finished, but it was still greatly damaged. It shrieked at the top of it's lungs, causing everyone to hold their ears with pain. Never had any of them heard a shriek so loud and painstaking, but they were glad it was all over in a matter of seconds. A sound was heard across the whole core. Mechs began to come in many numbers.

"Greeeaaat, our friends are back," Falco said with a groan. The mechs surrounded the whole core, but oddly enough, they weren't aiming at the team. Instead, they pointed their guns at the Landmaster. Peppy noticed this quickly, so he shouted out the order before it was too late.

"Fox! Move out of the way!" Peppy yelled. Fox noticed what was happening, so he quickly boosted forward, nearly dodging the mech's shooting. "Everyone! We have to protect Fox so he can take out the snake!" Peppy began to shoot the mechs around him. One at a time, everyone cooperated and began to shoot the other mechs.

"Doesn't it feel degrading that you have to be helped every time Fox?" Wolf said with a grin, but didn't expect an answer since Fox was busy with the snake. With a hiss, the snake wrapped around the landmaster. Everyone thought it was over for him as the snake began to crush the landmaster.

"FOX!" Krystal focused all of her fire towards the snake. Everyone else did the same, trying their best to shake the snake off, but it was stubborn. Fox was panicking a bit, but he thought of a quick plan. Automatically, he turned on the boosters. The blue flames shot from the bottom of the tank. The heat began to turn the snake red, melting off of the snake. Suddenly, the snake fell apart.

"Gotcha!" Fox backed up quickly and with one shot, he blew the head off of the snake. The snake twitched a bit, but it finally fell over. The smaller mechs began to shut down slowly, seeing that their main fighter was down for the count. Fox hopped out of the landmaster with a glorified grin.

"Always showing off," Falco said with his hand on his head. Fox felt pretty proud of himself, but since he's done so much of this, he slowly felt like he shouldn't be taking the credit, but his team.

"LOOK OUT!" Emerald hollered. She shoved Fox out of the way, a totally surprising reaction, even for herself. A man attempted to kick Fox, but Emerald blocked it with both of her hands. The cloaked man put much force into his elevated foot, causing Emerald to lean over. He was able to lift his body into the air and deliver another kick, but this time, Wolf was there to save her. He grabbed his foot, spun him around, and threw him against the wall. Emerald looked at Wolf and she did the same for him. All they did was smile, but when they looked over at the rest of the team, they had a totally different reaction.

"W-Wolf, look . . ." Katt said, pointing towards the cloaked man. Wolf looked, stunned to the max.

"Heh heh heh . . . What's wrong Wolf?" the cloaked man said, getting up as the hood fell off. The face revealed that it was Leon, in the flesh. "It looks like you've seen a ghost."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"**Broken"**

**In the core of the Great Fox, around 1:46 PM, the team was in shock as Wolf, the leader that lost his own team, was staring at Leon, his own teammate that attacked him. Wolf's feelings were full of shock as he looked at Leon, the green lizard that was staring at him with an insinuating grin. Leon was wearing a black cape with metal armor all over him, his eyes were like an iguana's eyes, looking everywhere at the same time. His tail was twitching like Wolf's tail, but it was a little more stiff and scaly. **

"**What's wrong Wolf? Scared?" Leon said with a chuckle, but all Wolf did was chuckle back. He was just happy that Leon was back and was his old self. Leon was usually like that, acting sarcastically like that, but it only made Wolf happier that he was back.**

"**Well, at least your back, now we just need to find Panther. Leon! Let's go!" Wolf commanded as he walked towards his ship, but Leon didn't follow. "Leon, c'mon." Leon stood his position. Wolf didn't like his attitude so he walked straight to him to set him straight, but Leon didn't want to be set straight. Leon punched Wolf in the face, causing Wolf to slam on the ground with a loud crash. "Okay, joke's over Leon!" Leon ran up to him and kicked him in the face.**

"**You think this is a joke? I don't want to join you again, you abandoned me! I was almost killed by those reechoed bots!" Leon yelled as he readied his battle stance, making Wolf stand straight up with his face towards the ground. His own teammate turned against him, but it wasn't his fault, he had to set him straight.**

"**I didn't mean to Leon! My robotic side just stuck with the probability of surviving! I had no control!" Wolf yelled with an angry tone in his voice. He sounded like he was extremely angry, but his soul wasn't acting the same. It was like he was crying on the inside, getting ripped up from the inside. **

"**Oh, is that the only excuse you can give me? If that is it, than it's time to die!" Leon yelled as he charged for Wolf, but Wolf's pride towards his teammate let him get hit many times. Emerald wanted to help Wolf, but Fox stopped her. It was Wolf's problem, not theirs, they had to deal with it themselves.**

"**I don't know what has gotten into you Leon, but you need to stop! NOW!" Wolf yelled as Leon glared at him. He admired his intuition, but it wasn't enough for Leon. Leon was ready to rush forward, but he stopped hearing something else.**

"**Don't you understand Wolf? We're like ghost that haunt the living, take the life of those that caused our deaths." A voice said as another person landed right next to Leon. It was Panther, a dark blue panther with an attitude to match. He had a tail like Katt's, but his strength surpassed hers. Wolf was going to greet him, but the look in Panthers face made Wolf realize he was with Leon. **

"**Don't you get it!? My mechanical side made me leave! IT WASN'T ME!" He yelled, trying to get the point straight across to the two of them, but they didn't want to listen. Panther ran straight to Wolf, kicking him to the wall with intense power. The metal boot caused Wolf's real arm to break, making him clench his teeth in pain. He still had his other arm so he blocked the incoming blows with it.**

"**C'mon Wolf, why aren't you fighting us? It's not like our leader to sit there and defend himself, show some backbone!" Leon yelled as he continued to fight Wolf. Leon kicked Wolf's legs, making him tip over. Panther was right under his back in the nick of time, ramming his body into his Wolf's back. Leon grabbed his throat, making Wolf choke and lose breath. He didn't resist, he just looked at Leon and grinned.**

"**That's it!" Emerald yelled as she rushed forward, breaking threw Fox's arm. He punched Panther out of the way and kicked Leon in the face, causing him to let go of Wolf's neck. Leon jumped up and looked at Emerald with an angry look, but he just snorted and jumped in the air. Panther did the same and the two of them were gone just like that.**

"**What have you done!?" Wolf yelled as he rose in the air, turning to Emerald with a snarl. Emerald didn't understand what she done wrong, she tried to help him, but he didn't like being helped. Fox went up to him to try to talk to Wolf, but he pulled back his hand and launched a punch. Fox caught the hand and tossed him to the ground, making Wolf land on his stomach and Fox pulling his arm back. Fox finally stopped when Wolf calmed down.**

**The team went to the bridge as they discussed what happened during the past hour. It was 3:02, and Wolf was in the sickest mood he could ever be in. No one could blame him, he was just attacked and almost killed by his own teammates. Emerald was sitting on Peppy's chair as she turned away from Wolf and everyone else. The sudden burst of anger inflicted on her was horrifying, nothing more than a nightmare in her head.**

"**That little bitch ruined my plan of talking some sense into Leon and Panther! I could've made them come back!" Wolf yelled as he stomped his foot to the ground. His real arm had a cast since it was broken, but that didn't stop him from moving it as much as he could. **

"**It. . . It wasn't my fault. . . I just wanted to help." She said softly with a spite of fear in her voice. It could be barely heard, but it was enough for Wolf to hear it. Even though Emerald was as sorry as she could possibly, it wasn't enough for Wolf to reconsider his opinion of what happened.**

"**Then don't help again! You know! Not all the time everybody needs help, even if it looks like it! Sometimes you just need to back off and leave someone be!" Wolf yelled ferociously as he clenched his hands even more, starring at Emeralds back with such intensity. He wanted to walk over to her but Fox stepped in, knowing that he couldn't fight Fox, he backed off.**

"**But what if he didn't let go of you Wolf? What if he choked you to death? You have to think of the possibilities," Krystal said, but the sensible words didn't pierce threw his anger. In fact, all it did was make him even more frustrated. Now he was walking back and forth in a fast and strong pace.**

"**It could never happen that way, they are my teammates, I know them better than any of you!" Wolf yelled as Krystal puffed up in anger. She didn't like the fact that it could be true but he was just denying it. Falco finally stepped in to see if he can get some sense into the untamed animal.**

"**You know what Wolf? You can't help the fact that someone helped you, someone other than your teammates. I know it's a great lose, but you don't have to go ballistic on us." He finally finished as Wolf continued to walk around with no change in him. It seemed like that didn't phase him much, so Falco backed off. Slippy didn't want to get into this so he had to back off. **

"**Wolf, can I talk to you for a sec?" s voice said as Wolf turned directly towards it. It was Peppy, and thank goodness, because Wolf actually followed. With him gone, everyone sighed in relief. It was just hard enough having him around, but with this kind of stuff going on, it's hard enough not getting killed.**

"**Man, I thought he was really gonna blow a gasket there," Slippy said as he wiped his forehead with his arm. Slippy was usually more afraid and more clumsy than everyone else, his social skills beyond his team wasn't very good since he only knew about mechanics.**

"**I at least know not to get on his bad side. I've got to watch out on what makes him mad," Katt said as she scratched the back of her head. She wasn't talking back to Wolf since all she was doing was investigating on what triggered Wolf and what didn't.**

"**Me. . ." Emerald finally said, making everyone turn towards her with a little of a shocked expression. "It's me. . . I'm the one who makes Wolf mad. . . It's my foolish actions that cause him to act like that." Emerald finished as she sobbed a little, but quietly so no one would notice. Krystal went up to her and wrapped her arms around Emerald's chest to comfort her.**

"**Emerald, don't say that. You just wanted to help, there's nothing wrong with that," Krystal said as Emerald just let out a little tear. Fox wanted to step in to see if he could make it better, try to tell her why Wolf would act that way besides what happened with the events that took place.**

"**Wolf is. . . Mysterious. It's hard to tell exactly why he does that kind of thing, but his team meant everything to him and what's worse, being attacked by his own team. It was hard enough to go threw that, so try not to blame him," Fox finished as Emerald tilted her head up a little. She thought about what he said for a while and but on a faint smile, a little smile of hope.**

**Peppy was outside in the hallway with Wolf, discussing what happened during the day. Peppy was used to being a negotiator, someone who deals with people like Wolf, people that get angry real easily. Since Peppy was in the neutral area of Wolf, he admired him more. **

"**I was just too mad, an angry vessel just blew after I realized I couldn't help my teammates," Wolf said as he laid his body on the wall as usual. "I just took all that anger on someone and the lucky person was Emerald." Wolf said as he looked up towards the lights. "She's actually not that bad once you get to know her." He said softly, but it was enough for Peppy to hear it.**

"**No, no she's not. Her attitude can be wild and out of control like a five year old, but she can be one serious woman at times," Peppy said as he just suddenly stopped and chuckled. "What do I know? I only knew her for a day or two, it seems like I'm making a bundle of guesses." Wolf chuckled with him.**

"**It's a surprise someone as old as you could even remember who you talking to," Wolf said, getting up from the wall with a grin stuck to his face. "What the biggest surprise is I was saved from someone that barely knows me. I think she has an obvious affection towards me." Peppy turned to him with a surprised look.**

"**You really think that? It's not every day something like that comes out of you Wolf. Any medications you need to take or forgot to take?" Wolf laughed with him. "Well, maybe you should get back in and talk to someone, I'll just be working on the mainframe for a while." He walked down the hall and left turning right, leaving Wolf to walk in the door alone.**

**He stepped in the room, causing everyone to stare at him for a long while. He didn't make eye contact with everyone, but he started to walk towards Emerald. Her head was tilted down with her pink hair shadowing her face. He knew what he must do, even thought it wasn't his strong point. He kneeled down on one knee, causing Emerald to look up a little so she could at least see who it was. When she realized it was Wolf, she started to look down a little, but Wolf stopped her by placing his hand on her chin. He lifted her head up and made her look towards him straight on.**

**She was going to struggle, fight back with all of her might, but she suddenly stopped when she saw the smile on Wolf's face. He stood straight up, making Emerald stand straight up in confusion, that was something that should happen when people look at Emerald. Suddenly, the strangest thing happened, Wolf hugged Emerald with a soft grip. **

"**I'm sorry Emerald." He said softly into her ear, but everyone could hear it anyways. He was going to let go but Emerald just hugged him back as hard as she could. Her sobs and tears were showing a sign of thanks, his job was done here, but he didn't want this attitude he made go on for long, so he gently pushed Emerald off. **

"**Thanks Wolf, that's all I wanted," Emerald said as she wiped the tears off of her face. Wolf nodded his head and turned towards everyone, expecting them to laugh or something, but they didn't. They just stared. The only one that made even the slightest reaction was Katt, she gave out a chuckle.**

"**Well, at least I know my leader has a soft side," she said as she chuckled a little more. Suddenly, everyone just burst into laughter. Wolf wanted to knock the crap out of them, but for the sack of himself, he didn't.**

"**Don't worry Wolf, we'll keep it a secret," Fox said as he wiped the little tear from his eye. The team was in silence now as they looked at Wolf, thinking he could come up with something. He was about to say something, but Peppy came in just in time, causing him to sigh in relief.**

"**Well team, the core is a little fried, it might take a while for this thing to fly," Peppy said as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. "So I suggest that all of you should hang out in Corneria while I get this fixed." He spun the wrench around and caught it.**

"**C'mon Peppy, I think I need to help you before you break your back," Slippy said as he grabbed his wrench and headed for the core with Peppy behind him. Wolf headed for the docking bay to get out, but he was a bit surprised seeing that Emerald wasn't following him. He shrugged and continued onward. **

"**Emerald, why aren't you going with him? Is something wrong?" Krystal asked as Emerald shook her head and smiled. Her attitude towards Krystal showed her that she was pretty happy about it, but why would she? It was something that was about to be answered.**

"**I just wanted to give him more elbow room," she said as Krystal smiled back a little. She didn't want Emerald to feel bad, but if Emerald is okay with it, she is. Emerald**

**went with Falco and Katt to town square as Fox and Krystal went to have some lunch. Down in the entertainment district, Wolf was heading for a certain café, it was one that Panther used to go to all the time.**

**It didn't take long for Corneria to be rebuilt after the mech attack, a few machines here and there to fix the buildings, but other than that, it looks like it hasn't been touched. The people had some memory of the attack, but since the apariod and Andross's attacks on the city, they've been prepared anyways. Wolf was looking back and forth, trying to catch site of the café.**

**Even if it has been years since it was destroyed, the popularity of the café was too much for it to go out of business, so it was rebuilt. Panther used to go there to think about anything, he and Leon would go with him and have fun, but he would enjoy it the most. Most girls would hit up on him, but he was too into Krystal. Leon would just love to just arm wrestle anyone for a challenge.**

**Once in a while, Wolf would challenge Leon and win, sometimes lose. Leon loved it when he won, even more when he lost, that was the odd thing about him. "Was" was a powerful word to him. He wanted to go crazy, completely, but the thought of his team saying no, he just shook it off and left it in his head. **

**He finally got there, The Star Café****, the best in the city. Wolf entered the café, hoping that no one would notice him, but someone like him is hard to not notice. The moment he walked in with that annoying bell ringing on the door, everyone lifted their drinks with cheers.**

"**Hey Wolf! Good to see ya again!" the bartender said as he walked to the counter and sat down, tapping it for a drink. The bartender got a bottle of some wine, shook it, and passed it to Wolf. "So, Wolf, where's the rest of your team? Out for another round of repairs?" He chuckled a little. Wolf chucked the wine down instantly as he tapped the counter again.**

"**Ya, I need a challenge again, that Leon can't be the champion for long," a muscular man said as he slammed his hand on the table with a grin. The girls around the place started to surround him, not flirting with him, but asking the same dang question over and over again.**

"**Where's Panther?" they repeated over and over again as the other people around him kept on asking the same thing, "Where is your team!?" They started to get into an uproar as Wolf continued to drink rapidly. The people started to get tired of it and started getting serious until Wolf had it.**

"**They've turned against me!" He yelled as he stood up and swung his whole body towards them. "And they're never coming back! All of them!" He yelled as he clenched his hands together with anger. The whole bar was tacit, until one of the men started to laugh hysterically.**

"**I think he had too much to drink, he's hallucinating," the man said as everyone else laughed around him like it was some kind of joke. Wolf did not care if they thought it was a joke or not, he grabbed the bulked up man by the throat with intense anger. He was showing he meant it.**

"**All of you SHUT UP!" he yelled as everybody was quiet in the bar. It took a lot more than ten drinks to get Wolf dazed and stupid like everyone else. He put the man down and took a deep breath. "Not to long ago, I was attacked by mechs, we took them out easily until one, living, breathing being killed us off. I wanted to get revenge but the robotic side of me refused."**

"**What robotic side? Are you sure you didn't have too much to drink?" a woman said kindly as Wolf just looked towards the ground. He shook his head slowly as he walked forward a little, grabbing his drink. He walked in a straight line with no balance issues, something a drunk person couldn't do. He put his drink and tore the fake skin off of his forearm, surprising everyone around him.**

"**This, it was the one that made me abandon my team. This mechanical menace ruined my life with calculations and probabilities! But that's not the worst of it, I had to stay with the Starfox team and get a new team, the thought of it killed me! The ship was attacked by the mechs and we retaliated. The main one was beat but we were attacked by. . . Leon and Panther." He said as everyone gasped. "That's all that you need to know, all they did was try to kill me until they escaped. Don't ask me anything else about that!" He sat down on the table where his drink was. No one dared to ask him as they walked away, some of them even weeping over the shock. He just came to this place to be alone, to think alone, until it was interrupted by a fool.**

"**So. . . Did you cry?" A voice said from across the table. Wolf looked up and saw the person who dared to talk to him in that kind of tone. The man was wearing a Kimono that was tied around his waist. He was a snowy white wolf with a steel katana on his side. He had a woven straw hat on him, covering his dark brown eyes, but Wolf didn't care about who he was. He lifted his mechanical leg and broke the table, shooting his arm for a decent blow to the face.**

**The white wolf expected it, throwing his cup in the air and blocking his arm with his sword. Wolf was struggling to overpower the katana, but the steel blade was too much along with the strength of the white wolf. The white wolf caught the cup and tilted his hat up, revealing his white face.**

"**Well, it seems like you still have the temper of a wolf, good to see," he said as he drank some of the tea in his cup. Wolf recognized the white wolf, he sat back down with an despicable look on his face. It seemed like he didn't have a good relationship with this wolf since he didn't give him a good look.**

"**White Howell, I don't like you entering this place, or the fact that you're breathing," Wolf said with a growl as White just sipped his tea. Obviously, Wolf thought White was just plan ignoring him until finally, he stopped sipping and looked at Wolf with a straight face.**

"**It is rude for you to say that to me, I am above your standards so it is wise for you to speak to me with respect," White said as Wolf clenched his fist and pulled it back to get ready for another blow. "Is it not that what Panther would say?" Wolf stopped right in front of White's face. It was true, Panther always said that when it came to people that could beat any one of them. Suddenly, he just laughed and saw on the chair, slouching down like a slug.**

"**So, how'd you come back here? Weren't you kicked out of Corneria after what happened with the take over deal a few months back?" he said as he chuckled a little. For a feed back, White tried to take over Corneria with his skills with the katana, it was almost accomplished until Starfox came and took him down.**

"**There was an attack with the mechs here a few days back, and I came here to go to court. I had to fight my way threw until I saw General Pepper being attacked by those mechs." he said with a sip of his tea. "Normally, I would've just left him there to die, but I admit it, I wanted to save his life. So I tore threw the mechs and risked my life for him, until a bigger mech came in. After fleeing from it with General Pepper, I was thanked by him and offered to be part of his peace core. Of course, I didn't want to so he allowed me to come back to the city." He finally finished as he drank the last of his tea.**

"**A keeper of peace? You? That would be an odd predicament," he said as he laughed out loud, causing White to laugh out loud too. "You know what? I need someone like you, maybe you should hook up with me and Katt, it'll be worth it." He held his bottle up, hoping White would agree to the terms. White nodded his head and banged the cup with his cup, causing Wolf's glass mug to shatter, but all they did was laugh.**

"**Now, let's get your ship and head back to the Great Fox." White looked at him confusingly. It was weird enough that Wolf came in without his team to accompany him, but to go with the Starfox team? His rival!? Now that had to be answered, but Wolf was prepared. "Don't worry, we're only with them until we get the rest of the team." Wolf said with a grin as White followed him. "Now first, let's get your ship." Saying that, White headed straight for his bunker.**

**His bunker was not too different from the Great Fox docking bay. It was of course state of the art, full of anything that would go great with a ship. White entered in with Wolf behind him, pressing a few buttons on the controls near him. The giant mechanical arms that were attached to the ship detached, making tons of mist appear across the room. When the mist cleared, the ship was floating in midair, awaiting for a passenger.**

"**Hop aboard," he said as he got in the cockpit, causing Wolf to jump on the wing of the ship. The ship had only two, black tips, but the body was completely white, just the style for White. The ship rose up and headed for the enormous, hard to miss Great Fox. **

**Peppy and Slippy were all done with the repairs as they entered the bridge, wiping the sweat from their foreheads. They stopped when they saw a white ship with black wings heading for them. Slippy was about to react by heading for an arwing, but stopped when Peppy saw Wolf on the ship. They headed down to the second docking bay and watched the white ship land behind Wolf's and Katt's ship. **

"**Well, I see you have someone new to add to your team," Peppy said as he rubbed his chin with deep thought, examining the external part of the ship. Wolf chuckled and jumped off the ship. He headed for Peppy, but stopped and turned around as he looked at the opening cockpit. White suddenly jumped out and landed on the floor with a straight face.**

"**It's a pleasure to see you again, I'm guessing you know who I am already." White said as he stood straight up and tilted his straw hat up, causing the two of them to panic. Slippy held out his blaster and Peppy readied a fighting stance.**

"**What are you trying to pull this time frosty!?" Slippy yelled as White chuckled a little. The fact that White didn't even make a grab for his sword caused Slippy and Peppy to think he was clean, but they kept their suspensions up, just in case.**

"**So, you're **_**not**_** planning anything? It seems like it since you are actually in the city," Peppy said as he broke his stance in confusion. His thoughts were that either White won in court or he did something incredible. He knew that the trial was a couple days ago but that's when the mechs attacked, so it was thought that he was the one that saved General Pepper.**

"**Well, well, well, if it isn't Snow White," a voice said from behind White. It was Falco and the rest of the team, with his arms crossed, he was ready to fight once again, but Peppy stepped up and stopped them.**

"**Peppy, what are you doing?" Krystal asked as Peppy chuckled a little. Even thought he was just as confused, he stopped them before anything bad happened. He obviously didn't want a fight to go on for no reason.**

"**C'mon, let's get to the dock, I'll fill the rest of you in." Peppy said as the team walked for the deck, but the hyperactive Emerald stopped the talking with her loud yelping and her insinuating voice.**

"**Peppy! You should've seen it! It was cool! We went by a talent show and saw amazing stuff! It was awesome!" Emerald yelled as they walked threw the door with smiles of joy on them. This day had no interruptions whatsoever, nothing that slowed them down with despair, probably a day that will never come for as long the mechs live.**


End file.
